
Glass. i__(£L-iX 



Book 



.UijiJ. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



Great Comman^cr6 

EDITED BY JAMES GRANT WILSON 



GENERAL GRANT 



^be (Breat Commanbcrs Series. 

Edited by General James Grant Wilson. 



Admiral Farragut. By Captain A. T. Mahan, U. S. N. 
General Taylor. By General O. O. Howard, U. S. A. 
General Jackson. By James Parton. 

General Greene. 

By Captain Francis V. Greene, U. S. A. 

General J. E. Johnston. 

By Robert M. Hughes, of Virginia. 

General Thomas. By Henry Coppee, LL. D. 

General Scott. By General Marcus J. Wright. 

General Washington. 

By General Bradley T. Johnson. 

General Lee. By General Fitzhugh Lee. 

General Hancock. By General Francis J. Walker. 

General Sheridan. By General Henry E. Davies. 

General Grant. By General James Grant Wilson. 

AV PREPARATIOV. 
General Sherman. By General Manning F. Force. 

Admiral Porter, 

By James R. Soley, late Assist. Sec. of Navy. 

General McClellan. By General Peter S. Michie. 

Commodore Paul Jones. 

By Admiral Richard W. Meade. 



New York : D. Ai'Pleton & Co., 73 Fifth Avenue. 





«r 



GREAT COMMANDERS 

• • • • 



GENERAL GRANT 



BY 



JAMES GRANT WILSON 




^] 



5r ^ 



NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1897 






Copyright, 1897, 
By D. APPLETON AND COAIPANY. 



All riirhts reserzied. 



PREFACE. 



In preparing the twelfth volume of the Great 
Commander Series the present writer has endeav- 
ored to describe its subject with candor and fidelity, 
stating facts only on what appeared to be good au- 
thority, and avoiding all exaggeration. It was his 
privilege to have made General Grant's acquaint- 
ance at Cairo, 111., in the summer of 1861, to have 
served under him at Vicksburg and elsewhere, and 
to have continued the always pleasant intercourse 
with him for a period of a quarter of a century, 
lacking but a single year. 

The series of letters sent during the war by 
the great commander to his faithful friend, the Hon. 
E. B. Washburne, of Illinois, included in this vol- 
ume, are perhaps of greater historical value than 
any others of that time of which the writer has 
knowledge. They refer to such famous battlefields 
as Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, luka, Vicksburg, 
Chattanooga, and the Wilderness. To the courtesy 
of Mr. Hempstead Washburne the author is in- 



Vi GENERAL GRANT. 

debted for these very interesting memorials of the 
illustrious soldier, and the civil war episodes in 
which he bore so prominent a part. In this volume 
will also be found communications of great inter- 
est from Grant's surviving classmates and several 
comrades, of the United States Military Academy. 

To his friend Colonel Frederick D. Grant the 
present biographer is particularly indebted for in- 
dorsing all the statements of facts contained in this 
volume, but not, of course, the opinions expressed, 
and for his courtesy in permitting the use of his 
father's appointment as lieutenant general, signed 
by President Lincoln, to appear in this work in fac- 
simile for the first time. The author of the volume 
also desires to acknowledge his obligations to Gen- 
eral Augustus L. Chetlain, who commanded the 
Galena company which Grant accompanied to 
Springfield, the capital of Illinois, April 23, 1861. 

New York, April 27, iSgy. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 

I. — Ancestry — Birth — Boyhood . . . . 
II. — Career at the United States Military 

Academy 

III.— The campaign in Mexico . 
IV. — The battle of Belmont 
V. — Forts Henry and Donelson captured 
VI. — The battle of Shiloh 
VII. — Iuka, Corinth, and the Hatchie 
VIII. — The Vicksburg campaign . 
IX. — The Chattanooga campaign 
X. — Commands all the armies . 
XI. — The Wilderness campaign . 
XII. — The sieges of Petersburg and Richmond 
XIII. — Promotion and the presidency . 
XIV. — Tour around the world . 
XV. — Correspondence with a friend 
XVI. — His last days and death . 
XVII. — Character and personal traits 



PAGE 

I 



20 
46 

74 
100 
120 
144 
160 

183 
214 
228 
250 
290 
310 
330 
350 
369 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Ancient Grant Homestead, 1697-1897, East Windsor Hill, 

Connecticut ......... 5 

Facsimile of General Grant's " Unconditional surrender " 

letter to General Buckner 114 

Facsimile of a Vicksburg pass used by Charles Newcomb, 

one of Grant's most expert spies . . . . -175 

Facsimile of Gi'ant's appointment as Lieutenant-General . 213 
Facsimile of cipher dispatch to General Halleck . . 266 
Facsimile of cipher dispatch to General Sherman . . 273 
Facsimile of Grant's terms to Lee and his army at Appo- 
mattox .......... 284 

Representation of Medal issued in commemoration of the 

dedication of Grant's Tomb, April 27, 1897 . . 363 

LIST OF MAPS. 

Theater of War, 1861-1865. 

Battle of Belmont, November 7, 1861. 

Operations against Fort Donelson, February, 1862. 

Operations against Corinth and luka, 1862. 

Campaign against Vicksburg, April and May, 1863. 

Siege of Vicksburg, 1863. 

Battle of Chattanooga, November 23 to 25, 1863. 

State of Virginia, i86r. 

Operations around Richmond and Petersburg, i864-'65. 

Campaign on the Appomattox, 1865. 



GENERAL GRANT. 



CHAPTER I. 

ANCESTRY. — BIRTH. — BOYHOOD. 

Matthew Grant, believed to have been a 
Scotchman, is the earliest ancestor of the subject of 
this biography of whom anything is known with cer- 
tainty. Since the death of the great commander, 
the discovery of the record of a marriage at St. 
Mary-le-Strand, London, March 25, 1609, of Mat- 
thew Grant and Susan Shewers, leads to the sup- 
position that the emigrant might have been from 
London; and that this marriage may have been the 
second marriage of his father. When a friend asked 
the general, a few months before his final departure 
from his New York home concerning the seven- 
teenth-century emigrant to the New World, he re- 
plied: " I do not know to whom Matthew Grant was 
related, or by whom begot. His nationality never 
interested me, and I am uncertain whether he was a 
native of England or Scotland. The name would in- 
dicate that my grandfather, Captain Noah Grant, was 
probably correct in stating that we were of Scottish 
extraction. I am, however, perfectly satisfied with 
being an American, through and through, with 



2 GENERAL GRANT. 

seven generations of honest American ancestors." * 
The inquiry of Carlyle concerning the ancestry of 
Cromwell may with equal accuracy be applied to 
Grant: " Are many king's sons so well born? " and 
have they, like the American commander, inherited 
from many generations of strong. God-fearing men, 
a sound body and good moral character? 

Matthew Grant and his wife Priscilla, each aged 
twenty-nine years, and an infant daughter, also 
named Priscilla, embarked in the Mary and John, 
from Plymouth, with a party of one hundred and 
forty persons, including their pastors, Maverick and 
Warham, who had been chiefly gathered from Dor- 
setshire, Devonshire, and Somersetshire, in the 
southwest of England. They had a prosperous 
voyage of seventy days, landing at Nantasket, May 



* In his Personal Memoirs the general remarks : " My family 
is American, and has been for generations in all its branches di- 
rect and collateral." The direct line of descent of General Grant 
from Matthew Grant, of Windsor, Conn., is as follows : 

1. Matthew and Priscilla ( ) Grant, m. 1625. 

2. Samuel and Mary (Porter) Grant, m. 165S. 

3. Samuel and Grace (Miner) Grant, m. 1688. 

4. Noah and Martha (Huntington) Grant, m. 1717. 

5. Noah and Susannah (Delano) Grant, m. 1746. 

6. Noah and Rachel (Kelly) Grant, m. 1791. 

7. Jesse Root and Hannah (Simpson) Grant, m. 1S21. 

8. Ulysses Simpson Grant, born April 27, 1822. 

It was perhaps owing to this uncertainty in regard to his re- 
mote progenitors, combined with his feeling of pride in his long 
line of American ancestors, that induced the general to decline 
to add his name to the list of several thousand Grants who in 
1872 signed an address of congratulation to the head of the clan, 
although the request came from the late Field-Marshal Grant, 
with whom the general became acquainted five years later. 



ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 3 

30, 1630, the day after Charles II was born. " So 
we came," wrote Roger Clapp, who was one of the 
company, " by the hand of God through the deeps 
comfortably, having preaching or expounding of 
the Word of God every day for ten weeks together 
by our ministers." Edward Everett, in an oration 
delivered July 4, 1855, in his native town of Dor- 
chester, said of these early emigrants : " There was 
a large body of ' West Country ' or ' Dorchester 
men ' in Governor Winthrop's expedition, who were 
many of them of Mr. White's * church, and all were 
enlisted, so to say, under his auspices and encour- 
agement, and they were the first in the field. Early 
in March, 1630, they were ready to depart, and a 
large vessel was chartered at Plymouth for their 
separate conveyance. The faithful pastor, guide at 
once in things divine and human — which in that 
age of trial ran strangely together, as in what age 
do they not? — went with them to their port of em- 
barkation, met with them in the new hospital of 
Plymouth, where they gathered themselves into a 
Church under the ministers of his selection, held 
wkh them a solemn fast of preparation, and 
preached to them the last sermon they were to hear 
from his lips." 

After a careful examination of the coast, the 
newcomers established themselves on a neck of 
land called by the Indians Mattapan, which they 
named after the town that Matthew Grant and 
many of his associates had left in England — Dor- 

* Rev. John White, for two-.score years pastor in Dorchester, a 
large town in the southwest of England. 



4 GENERAL GRANT. 

Chester, now South Boston. Roger Clapp writes: 
" The place was a wilderness. Fish was a good help 
to me and to others. Bread was so scarce that I 
thought the very crusts from my father's table 
would have been sweet; and when I could have 
meat and salt and water boiled together, I asked, 
'Who would ask for better?'" Again he says: 
" In our beginnings, many were in great straits 
for want of provisions for themselves and little ones. 
Oh, the hunger that many suffered, and saw no hope 
in an eye of reason to be supplied only by clams, 
mussels, and fish!" Nevertheless the new settle- 
ment prospered, and in three years it was styled 
" the greatest town in New England." It set the 
example in 1633 of that municipal organization 
which has since prevailed there, and has proved 
one of the chief sources of its progress. The Minot 
House is still standing in Dorchester which was 
built in that year, and is believed to be the oldest 
wooden habitation in the United States, the frame 
of which, after the custom of that day, Matthew 
Grant doubtless assisted in raising. 

In the autumn of 1635 a number of the inhab- 
itants of Dorchester decided to remove with their 
families to Connecticut. The new settlement was 
also named Dorchester, but two years later was 
changed to Windsor. Matthew Grant was of the 
Connecticut party, and was immediately chosen 
surveyor, being annually elected to that ofifice dur- 
ing a quarter of a century. Mrs. Grant died in 1644, 
and in the following year the widower married Su- 
sannah Rockwell, who, with her husband William 
Rockwell, had been fellow-passengers from Eng- 



ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 5 

land with the Grants. In 1652 he became town 
clerk. " Few men," says Stiles, " filled so large a 
place in the early history of Windsor, or filled it 
so well as honest Matthew Grant. His name figures 
in almost every place of trust, and the early records 
show that the duties were always conscientiously 
performed." His second son, Samuel, was born in 
Dorchester in 1631, and in 1658 he married Mary 
Porter, afterward receiving from his father about 
one hundred acres on the east side of the river, and 
erecting their house on an eminence near the East 
Windsor Theological Institute. The ancient church 
record speaks of it, in 1675, as being the only place 
in the meadow that was not covered with water in 
the great floods of i638-'39. Samuel's grandson, 
Captain Noah Grant, served in the French War, 
and was killed in battle near Fort William Henry, 
New York, September 30, 1756. The house at 
East Windsor where his father of the same name 
was born in 1693 is still standing, but has been 
greatly enlarged by his descendants, in whose pos- 
session about fifty acres of the property purchased 
in 1674 still remains.* Another Noah Grant, sixth 
in descent from Matthew, served through the Revo- 
lutionary War. His wife having died. Captain 
Grant, with many of his neighbors, removed after 

* The Grant homestead, now owned and occupied by Roswell 
Grant, was for two years during the Revolutionary War the place 
of confinement of William Franklin, the Loyalist Governor of 
New Jersey, also of General Richard Prescott and many other 
British officers. The land was purchased by his ancestor, Mat- 
thew, from the Connecticut Indians, and no white men but Grants 
have ever possessed it. 



6 GENERAL GRANT. 

the war to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, 
where he soon after married again. The first fruit 
of this marriage was Jesse Root Grant, born in the 
year 1797. Two years later the Grants, following 
the westward tide of emigration, removed to Ohio, 
settling in what is known as the town of Deerfield. 
Mrs. Grant died in 1805, and the family circle was 
broken, the lad being received in the family of Judge 
George Tod, father of the late Governor David Tod, 
of Ohio. When old enough, he was apprenticed 
to his brother Peter to learn the tanner's trade, and 
soon after reaching his majority engaged in busi- 
ness for himself, conducting a tannery first at Ra- 
venna, Ohio, and later at Point Pleasant, Clermont 
County, in the same State. 

In Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, there 
had dwelt for several generations a family named 
Simpson, of Scottish descent. John Simpson, a 
member of this family, removed in 1819 to Ohio, 
settling with his son and three daughters in Cler- 
mont County. When his third child, Hannah, and 
Grant, the young tanner, met a mutual attachment 
was formed, and their marriage soon followed in 
June, 1 821. Their first child, born April 27, 1822, 
is the subject of this biography.* The name by 
which General Grant is known in history is not 



* It has recently been stated that William Simpson, who came 
to this conntry between 1748 and 1750, was also the ancestor of 
Jefferson Davis, one of his granddaughters, called Ann, having 
married the grandfather of the Southern President, and another 
being the wife, as stated, of Jesse R. Grant, so that Davis and the 
general were, if the statement is authentic, second cousins, their 
grandmothers having been sisters. 



ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 7- 

that given to him in baptism. Various names were 
suggested, among others Hiram being proposed by 
the child's grandfather and Ulysses by his grand- 
mother, who entertained a great admiration for the 
character of the warrior-traveler. At length a com- 
promise was arranged, and the child was christened 
Hiram Ulysses. Fate, however, decreed that he 
should bear the initials of his country, U. S., for the 
member of Congress who, seventeen years later, ap- 
pointed him a cadet to the United States Military 
Academy sent in his name as Ulysses S. Grant, and 
the lad, after vainly endeavoring to have the error 
corrected by the West Point authorities, submitted 
to the inevitable, and ever after leaving the academy 
always signed himself U. S. Grant. 

The scene of his birth was one of those humble 
pioneer dwellings still to be seen on the banks of 
the Ohio, sheltered from the summer sun by pro- 
tecting trees, this particular structure being a dou- 
ble single-story cottage standing where the river 
makes one of its magnificent sweeps around a pro- 
jecting point, and then widens in its straight course 
below until it appears almost like an inland lake. 
This frame house in which General Grant was born 
was erected by his father nearly fourscore years 
ago, and in 1888 was removed from Clermont 
County to the State Fair Grounds at Columbus. 
A building to inclose and protect it was with the 
relic dedicated on September 3, 1896, by the Gov- 
ernor of Ohio, and Henry T. Chittenden, who pre- 
sented it to the State, made an appropriate address 
on the interesting occasion. The next year (1823) 
the family removed to Georgetown, in an adjoin- 



8 GENERAL GRANT. 

ing county, where the childhood and youth of the 
lad were spent. After he became famous as a great 
commander many incidents of this early period were 
recalled, illustrating his courage and tenacity of pur- 
pose. He seems, like Admiral Nelson, never to 
have known the quality of fear. When but three 
year of age his father, walking with him through the 
village on the Fourth of July, met a neighbor, who 
proposed that the child should share in the celebra- 
tion by pulling the trigger of a pistol which he placed 
in his little hand. It exploded with a loud report, but 
the boy, instead of being frightened, asked that the 
weapon be reloaded that he might fire it again. 

Ulysses, or Lys, as he was called in the house- 
hold and among his comrades, loved horses, and 
at the early age of eight was employed in drawing 
firewood for the house and shop from a distant 
part of the farm. When he was twelve years of age 
his father was awarded the contract for building the 
Brown County Jail, which, like most of the Western 
jails and courthouses of that day, was to be built 
of heavy logs about fourteen feet long. The youth 
volunteered to drive the pair of horses until the 
logs were all delivered at the appointed place. A 
few days afterward Mr. Grant discovered that Ulys- 
ses was loading them alone, and on inquiry learned 
his ingenious method of procedure. A large tree 
which had been cut down lay aslant, one end being 
on the ground and the other elevated. I'p its trunk 
the lad drew the logs until their ends projected far 
enough over to allow of his backing the wagon 
underneath them. When this was done, he attached 
a long chain extending over the wagon box, and 



ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. g 

with his powerful pair of horses drew them one 
after another into the wagon. 

To about the same period belongs an incident 
related by Lincoln to the author, who accompanied 
the President to the theater a few weeks before he 
met his end there./' A circus came to the town where 
the Grants lived," said Lincoln, " one of the attrac- 
tions of which was a mule that had been trained 
to throw his rider. A silver dollar was offered by 
the manager to any one who would ride the animal 
once around the ring. Several applicants for the 
dollar tried, but were all thrown. At length a sturdy 
little fellow stepped into the ring and said that he 
would like to try that mule. The boy held on 
bravely until almost around the circle, when he was 
thrown over the animal's head as the others had 
been. Jumping to his feet and throwing off his 
coat and hat, he exclaimed, ' I would like to try that 
mule again ! ' This time he faced the crupper, coiled 
his legs around the animal's body, and seized hold 
of his tail. Amid the cheers of the audience the 
mule exhausted all his efforts to unseat his rider, 
but in vain, and the lad gained his dollar. That 
boy was Ulysses S. Grant, and just so," added Lin- 
coln, " he will hold on to General Lee." Six days 
later came the surrender at Appomattox Court- 
house of Lee and his army! 

Among Grant's youthful companions was Dan- 
iel Ammen, two years his senior, who also in later 
life achieved distinction as one of the famous Far- 
ragut's lieutenants. In a recent work * the admiral 

* The Old Navy and the New, Philadelphia, 1891. 



lO GENERAL GRANT. 

gives an account of a fishing excursion, during 
which he had the good fortune to save the future 
commander's Hfe. The stream was much swollen 
by heavy rains. A large poplar log that had 
lodged on the bank and at an incline partly over the 
bank appeared to afford Ulysses a favorable seat 
from which to throw his line. Such of my readers 
as have attempted to walk on a poplar log after a 
rain have doubtless found a slippery footing, as was 
the case with the young fisherman. In a moment 
he had disappeared in the rapidly flowing stream. 
Without a moment's hesitation Ammen ran down 
the bank to a point where the stream narrowed and 
several willows, undermined by the water, leaned out 
barely above its surface. With the alacrity of an 
active boy, the future admiral hastened out on one 
of the trees, and, as his half-drowned companion 
came within his reach, caught and drew him from 
the rushing stream. " He was clothed at the time," 
writes Ammen, " in an upper garment buttoning on 
to a nether one that was my admiration. It was of 
Marseilles, with gorgeous red strips, and it seemed 
to me that this dress must be irretrievably ruined 
from its drenching in muddy water, and perhaps 
this fact impressed the circumstance on my mind." 
General Grant, writing to his playmate of forty- 
seven years previous, makes humorous reference to 
this important episode in his early life. He says 
that he has been conversing with the officers of the 
United States ship Vandalia (then at Nice in the 
Mediterranean, where the general was sojourning 
in 1877). and proceeds: " Of course. T told them 
that I owed you an old grudge as being responsible 



ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. n 

for the many trials and difficulties I had passed 
through in the last half century, for nearly that 
length of time ago you rescued me from a watery 
grave. I am of a forgiving nature, however, and 
forgive you. But is the feeling universal? If the 
Democrats come into full power, may they not hold 
you responsible? But, as you are about retiring, I 
hope no harm will happen to you from any act of 
kindness done to me." 

There was a farmer named Ralston living within 
a few miles of Georgetown, who owned a fine colt 
that Ulysses coveted. Mr. Grant had offered twen- 
ty dollars for him, but the farmer asked twenty-five. 
The lad was so eager to possess the colt that, after 
the owner had departed, he begged to be allowed 
to buy him at the price demanded. The rest of the 
story can best be told in the general's own words: 
" My father yielded, but said twenty dollars was all 
the horse was worth, and told me to ofTer that price; 
if it was not accepted, I was to ofifer twenty-two 
and a half, and if that would not get him to give the 
twenty-five. I at once mounted a horse and went for 
the colt. When I got to Mr. Ralston's house, I said 
to him, ' Papa says I may ofifer you twenty dollars 
for the colt, but if you won't take that I am to ofifer 
you twenty-two and a half, and if you won't take 
that to give you twenty-five.' It would not require 
a Connecticut man," concludes the soldier President, 
" to guess the price finally agreed upon." 

From the age when he was strong enough to 
use the plow until he was seventeen young Grant 
performed all the work in w-hich horses were used. 
No better method could have been devised for de- 



12 GENERAL GRANT. 

veloping and hardening his nerves and muscles. 
During the same six years he frequently drove to 
Maysville, Cincinnati, Louisville, and other points 
from sixty to seventy miles distant with or for pas- 
sengers, also attending school. These were chiefly 
the " subscription schools " of Georgetown, sup- 
ported by a stipend from each pupil, and in which 
only the rudimentary branches were taught. The 
government was by the birch and rod. At home, 
however, the course of instruction and form of gov- 
ernment were different. Perhaps no better mold 
for the casting of an heroic character could have 
been found than the tanner's family in the wilder- 
ness of Ohio. The father and mother, while not 
highly cultivated, possessed a keen sense of the 
value of education. They not only loved their chil- 
dren, but were ambitious for their future, and 
trained them with that end in view. Withal they 
were soberly and religiously minded, and reared 
their six children * according to the precepts of the 
Bible. Their method of government was that of 
reason and appeal. No lawful recreations or amuse- 
ments were forbidden, and the future soldier, after 
his tasks were performed, hunted in the forest, 
fished or swam in the creek, or, taking the horses, 
visited his friends far and near at his pleasure. His 
youth, while it had its labors and privations, was 
not, like that of many men of mark, made cold and 
barren by lack of parental care and affection. 

* Hiram Ulysse?;, 1822 ; Samuel Simpson, 1825 ; Cluny, 1828 ; 
Virginia, 1832 ; Orvil Lynch, 1835 ; and ^fary Frances, 1S39. ^^ 
these lliere are now (1S97) but two survivors. 



J 



ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 



13 



" It is," says Michelet, " a universal rule that 
great men resemble their mothers, who impress 
their mental and physical marks upon their souls." 
As in the case of so many other illustrious men, it 
was from his mother that Grant inherited his best 
traits of character. When he became President, she 
said of him as ^lary Washington said of her son, " He 
was always a good boy," and expressed no more 
surprise at his elevation to the office than did Wash- 
ington's mother when he became the chief ruler of the 
young nation in 1789. Mrs. Grant was graceful in 
person, gracious to her children, and kept them 
well clothed, which was unusual in the rural regions 
of Ohio at that time. As the author remembers her, 
she was above medium height and neat in her per- 
son. Her grandson Colonel Grant describes her 
as " one of the most modest and unselfish of women. 
Her intimate friends greatly appreciated her rare 
W'Orth and excellent qualities, many of which the 
general inherited. Devoted as she was to him, his 
honors and success never betrayed her into an act 
or remark which would indicate that her head was 
turned by them. She was glad and thankful for his 
good fortune, and, with the loving faithfulness of a 
Christian mother, she had long made his welfare 
the subject of earnest prayer. She had faith in his 
future, though not great worldly expectations, and 
during the last years of her life her interest in his 
future had special reference to that part on which 
they have both entered." 

The characteristics of ancestry are said to com- 
monly survive with more or less vigor through nine 
and even ten generations, which lends force to 



14 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Emerson's remark that " every man is a quotation 
from his ancestors." The destiny due to inheritance 
certainly holds many of us within its firm grasp. 
Our forefathers are indeed 

. . . Dead but scept'red sovereigns 
Who still mle our spirits from their urns. 

"My life in Georgetown," wrote Grant, "was un- 
eventful. From the age of five or six until seven- 
teen I attended the subscription schools of the vil- 
lage, except during the winters of 1836-37 and 
i838-'39. The former period was spent in Mays- 
ville, Ky., attending the school of Richardson and 
Rand; the latter in Ripley, Ohio, at a private school. 
I was not studious in habit, and probably did not 
make progress enough to compensate for board 
and tuition. . . . My father was, from my earliest 
recollection, in comfortable circumstances, consid- 
ering the times, his place of residence, and the com- 
munity in which he lived. Mindful of his own lack 
of facilities for acquiring an education, his greatest 
desire in maturer years was for the education of his 
children. Consequently, as stated before, I never 
missed a quarter from school from the time I was 
old enough to attend until the time of leaving home. 
This did not exempt me from labor. In my early 
days every one labored more or less in the region 
where my youth was spent, and more in proportion 
to their private means. It was only the very poor 
who were exempt. While my father carried on the 
manufacture of leather and worked at the trade him- 
self, he owned and tilled considerable land. I de- 
tested the trade, preferring almost any other labor, 



ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.- BOYHOOD. 15 

but I was fond of agriculture and of all employment 
in which horses were used. We had, among other 
lands, fifteen acres of forest within a mile of the vil- 
lage. In the fall of the year choppers were employed 
to cut enough wood to last a twelvemonth. When 
I was seven or eight years of age, I began hauling 
all the wood used in the house and shops. I could 
not load it on the wagons, of course, at that time, 
but I could drive, and the choppers would load and 
some one at the house unload. When about eleven 
years old, I was strong enough to hold a plow. 
From that age until seventeen I did all the work 
done with horses, such as breaking up the land, 
furrowing, plowing corn and potatoes, bringing in 
the crops when harvested, hauhng all the wood, 
besides tending two or three horses, a cow or two, 
and sawing wood for stoves, etc., while still attend- 
ing school. For this I was compensated by the fact 
that there was never any scolding or punishing by 
my parents, no objection to rational enjoyments, 
such as fishing, going to the creek a mile away to 
swim in summer, taking a horse and visiting my 
grandparents in the adjoining county, skating on 
the ice in winter, or taking a horse and sleigh when 
there was snow on the ground. ... I have de- 
scribed enough of my early life to give an impres- 
sion of the whole. I did not like to work, but I 
did as much of it while young as grown men can 
be hired to do in these days, and attended school 
at the same time. I had as many privileges as any 
boy in the village, and probably more than most 
of them. I have no recollection of ever having been 
punished at home, either by scolding or by the rod. 



l6 GENERAL GRANT. 

But at school the case was dififerent — the rod was 
freely used there, and I was not exempt from its in- 
fluence." * Grant was, presumably, soundly birched 
to the full extent of " the resources of civiUzation," 
like the other boys, and not in the manner of that 
schoolmaster of antiquity of whom it was said 
" he whipped his pupils gently." The general re- 
marked to a friend that he had no recollection as 
a lad of playing truant from school or of robbing 
orchards. 

In a letter written to Admiral Ammen from 
Pau, France, in December, 1878, the general thus 
alludes to his school-days : " The quarter of a cen- 
tury does not seem half so long as the one that pre- 
ceded it and passed since you and I first received 
instructions, under John D. White, and a long beech 
switch, cut generally by the boys for their own 
chastisement." Mr. Grant stated that his son never 
flinched from the punishment that was frequent 
among the schools of the period in Ohio. " As 
a boy," writes Ammen, " Grant was never aggres- 
sive nor given to profanity, a vice that was not 
unusual with his companions. If provoked or in- 
sulted, he would fight it out manfully. He never 
entered into a fight without it being clearly the 
fault of the other boy. He was fond of horses; we 
rode usually without a saddle, a blanket being 
strapped on the back of the horse, and without 
stirrups. Without being slothful or inert, he had 
not that superabundant flow of animal spirits which 
impels many boys to stand on their heads and do 

* Personal Memoirs, vol. i, New York, 1895. 



ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 17 

various disagreeable things from thoughtlessness, 
apparently arising from great vitality." 

Every member of the House of Representatives 
has authority to appoint from among his constitu- 
ents a cadet to the United States Military Academy 
established at West Point, on the Hudson River, in 
1802. Thomas L. Hamer,* the member of Con- 
gress from the Georgetown district, had appointed 
a son of Dr. Bailey, a neighbor of the Grants, but 
the boy had failed to pass the necessary preliminary 
examination. When, in 1834, Mr. Grant learned 
that young Bailey had been unsuccessful, he at once 
applied for the coveted position on behalf of his 
eldest son, and received a favorable reply. Arriv- 
ing at home for the Christmas holidays from Rip- 
ley, where he was attending a winter school, his 
father informed him that he would probably re- 
ceive the appointment. " But I won't go," said the 
boy. " I think you will," replied Mr. Grant, and, 
added the general when relating the incident in 
later life, " I thought so, too, if he did." At this 
period he appears to have neither aversion or de- 
sire for a miHtary career, his opposition to the ap- 
pointment arising no doubt from his reluctance to 
risk the examination, fearing that he might fail to 
pass, and so perhaps bring disgrace upon himself 
and his family as George Bartlett Bailey had done. 

* Hamer commanded a regiment in the Mexican War, greatly 
distinguishing himself in the battle of Monterey, and was highly 
esteemed by General Taylor. Grant said he was a natural sol- 
dier, and that had he not died prematurely in Mexico, he would 
probably have held a high place in the history of his country, 
possibly the very highest. 



1 8 GENERAL GRANT. 

Writing to a friend in 1865, Mr. Grant says, " When 
Ulysses was a boy he desired an education, and, as 
I did not feel able to stand the expense, I suggested 
West Point, which met his views, without any 
thought by him or me as to the military part of the 
course there." In another letter the father writes: 
" Early in the year 1839, when my eldest son was 
nearly seventeen years of age, he told me he could 
never follow the tanning business — that he did not 
like it. I said that whatever he expected to follow 
through life he should engage in now, and not waste 
his early years in learning a calling which he did 
not propose continuing. Among other prepara- 
tions for his future career, he strongly desired an 
education. Although my business had been good 
and reasonably profitable, yet I did not feel able 
to support him at college. So I suggested West 
Point; that met his approbation, and I made appli- 
cation, which was fortunately successful." 

Without ambition or particular desire to do so, 
young Grant made ready for his course at one of 
the most exacting of American educational institu- 
tions, where the number of failures are greater than 
in any university or college in the country. His 
unwillingness to enter upon the proposed course 
was somewhat modified by the thought that on his 
way to West Point he would pass through Phila- 
delphia and New York, and be afiforded an oppor- 
tunity of viewing the wonders of Eastern civilization, 
for the backwoods boy was imbued with a passion 
for travel. At that time he had never seen a moun- 
tain of importance, the ocean, or even a large lake, 
nor a city greater than Cincinnati, then containing 



ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 



19 



less than forty thousand inhabitants. The appoint- 
ment having been at length received, the Ohio 
youth's happy home life was now to come to a close, 
and a new and unknown field of action was to pre- 
sent itself with great possibilities and more impor- 
tant responsibilities. 

If any critical reader is inclined to ask why de- 
vote so much space to the early days of the great 
commander in this and the succeeding chapter, the 
answer may be found in his statement to the au- 
thor, that when he read a biography he was gener- 
ally more interested in what the man did as a boy 
than in any other part of his career, also that the 
youth of a hero, with the influences that surround 
him, is perhaps the most important part of a biogra- 
pher's subject. Grant w^as of John Milton's opinion 
that 

The childhood shows the man, 
As morning shows the day. 



CHAPTER II. 

CAREER AT THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY. 

The necessary preparations having" been com- 
pleted, the young cadet of seventeen set out about 
the middle of May, 1839, ^y steamboat up the Ohio 
River to Pittsburg, a journey of three days, then 
over the Alleghany Mountains to Harrisburg, and 
from thence to Philadelphia by railroad, at the rate 
of twelve miles an hour, which friends have heard 
Grant say he then considered very rapid traveling. 
The lad lingered with relatives five days in Phila- 
delphia, visiting the principal places of interest, and 
a shorter period in New York, also devoted to sight- 
seeing", and then sailed up the Hudson River in the 
day boat to West Point, where he presented him- 
self to the military authorities on the third day of 
June, provided with his provisional appointment 
signed by Joel R. Poinsett, Secretary of War, and 
armed with a pair of huge horse pistols received 
by him from a Pennsylvania kinsman, ])resumably 
as being necessary accessories for a military acad- 
emy cadet! The academy had grown somewhat 
from the " corps of cadets with two captains to 
teach them mathematics of 1802," but was still in 

20 



i 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 2 1 

embryo.* Major Richard Delafield, a strict dis- 
ciplinarian and of good executive ability, had only 
the year before succeeded Major Rene E. De 
Russy, also of the Engineer Corps. The late aca- 
demic building had but recently been erected. The 
library and observatory were not built until two 
years later. Three weeks before Grant's arrival 
the Secretary of War had issued an order trans- 
ferring a sergeant and five dragoons from Car- 
lisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, to West Point to teach 
the cadets riding, and during his first year the ser- 
geant was oi^cially designated as the " riding mas- 
ter." Authority was conferred on the superintend- 
ent to organize the artillery and cavalry arms of 
the service. The academy was still under con- 
gressional criticism. The charges that it " was a 
school of art," " had never produced a military 
genius, and never would," had not then been dis- 
proved by the war with Mexico and the more im- 
portant civil war. During the same year a bill was 
introduced in Congress to abolish the Military 
Academy — a bill which Cadet Grant earnestly hoped 
would pass, but which, most fortunately for the 
country, failed to become a law. 

On his arrival he signed the official record, as 
seen in the facsimile on page 22, Ulysses Hiram 
Grant, in accordance with the custom of all cadets 
who enter the academy. The member of Congress 
who conferred the appointment called him by mis- 

* West Point was purchased by Alexander Hamilton soon 
after his accession to the Cabinet of Washington, and the last let- 
ters exchanged between these illustrious men related to the foun- 
dation of the United States Military Academy. 



22 GENERAL GRANT. 

take Ulysses S. Grant,* and, as he failed to 
obtain a correction of the error from the authori- 
ties, the youth uncomplainingly accepted the new 

designation. An abridged signature of Ulysses 
H. Grant also appears on the same day in the 
West Point Hotel register. By a curious co- 
incidence Henry Wilson, of IMassachusetts, who 
was Vice-President while Grant was our Chief 
Magistrate, was until his twentieth year known 
as Henry Colbath, when he assumed the name 
by ■ which he was afterward so well and widely 
known. J 

* The second son was named Samuel Simpson (1825-1861). 
The winter that the elder brother was at school at Ripley, Mr. 
Hamer had sometimes visited the Grants and had heard the youth 
called Simpson. Not aware that there was an older son, he sup- 
posed he was quite correct in calling him Ulysses Simpson. 
Grant, as has been stated in the previous chapter, was christened 
Hiram Ulysses, but when about to start for West Point, he saw in 
large letters the initials H. U. G., he said, " That won't do ; it spells 
'hug,' and will make me an object of ridicule." So the name was 
transposed and the trunk relettered U. H. G. When he left the 
Military Academy four years later, the initials were again changed 
on the trunk to U. S. G. 

t From Memorial History City of New York. Vol. 3, 1893. 

X Jules Grevy, a recent President of France, was neither Jules 
nor Grevy, but Judith Fran9ois Paul Greviot ; Henry M. Stan- 
ley, the African explorer, was originally plain John Rowland ; 
and Field-Marshal Lord Clyde was another illustrious nine- 
teenth-century commander who achieved fame under another 
name than the one bestowed on him at baptism. Before he was 
sixteen, Colin MacHver, the son of a Glasgow carpenter, who had 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 



23 



A few days after entering the Military Academy 
the young cadet from Ohio wrote the following 
letter to his revered mother, which alike truly 
illustrates their characters: " I have occasionally 
been called to be separated from you, but never did 
I feel the full force and efifect of this separation as 
I do now. I seem alone in the world without my 
mother. There have been so many ways in which 
you have advised me, when in the quiet of home I 
have been pursuing my studies, that you can not 
tell how much I miss you. I was so often alone 
with you, and you so frequently spoke to me in pri- 
vate, that the solitude of my situation here at the 
academy among my silent books and in my lonely 
room is all the more striking. It reminds me the 
more forcibly of home, and most of all, dear mother, 
of you. But, in the midst of all this, your kindly in- 
structions and admonitions are ever present with 
me. I trust they may never be absent from me as 
long as I live. How often do I think of them, and 
how well they strengthen me in every good word 
and work! My dear mother, should I progress well 
with my studies at West Point and become a soldier 

married a Campbell, was presented by her brother, Colonel John 
Campbell (who had placed his nephew in the Royal Militar}' and 
Navy Academy at Gosport), to the Duke of York, then commander 
in chief, who promised the lad a commission. Supposing him to 
be, as he said, "another of the clan," he put down his name as 
Colin Campbell, the name which he ever after bore. On leaving 
the duke's presence with his uncle, the young cadet made some 
comment on what he took to be a mistake on the duke's part in 
regard to his surname, to which the shrewd colonel replied by 
saying that " Campbell was a name which it would suit him very 
well for professional reasons to adopt." 
3 



24 



GENERAL GRANT. 



of my country, I am looking forward with hope 
to have you spared to share with me in any ad- 
vancement I may make. I see now, in looking 
over the records here, how much American soldiers 
of the right stamp are indebted to good American 
mothers. When they go to the field, what prayers 
go with them! What tender testimonials of affec- 
tion and counsel are in their knapsacks! I am 
struck, in looking over the history of the noble 
struggle of our fathers for national independence, 
at the evidence of the good influence exerted upon 
them by the women of the Revolution. Ah ! my be- 
loved friend, how can the present generation ever 
repay the debt it owes the patriots of the past for 
the sacrifices they so freely made for us? We may 
well ask, Would our country be what it is now if it 
had not been for the greatness of our patriotic an- 
cestors? " 

His second letter, also written in June, 1839, 
was addressed to his father. His words are so ad- 
mirable and seemingly so prophetic that it is a 
pleasure to present them on this page: " I am ren- 
dered serious by the impressions which crowd upon 
me here at West Point. My thoughts are frequently 
occupied with the hatred I am made to feel toward 
traitors to my country as I look around me on the 
memorials that remain of the treason of Arnold. 
I am full of a conviction of scorn and contempt, 
which my young and inexperienced pen is unable 
to express in this letter, toward the conduct of any 
man who at any time could strike at the liberties 
of such a nation as ours. If ever men should be 
found in our Union base enough to make the at- 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 25 

tempt to do this — if, like Arnold, they should se- 
cretly seek to sell our national inheritance for the 
mess of pottage of wealth, or power, or section — 
West Point sternly reminds them of what you, 
my father, would have your son do. As I stand 
here in this national fort, a student of arms under 
our country's flag, I know full well how you 
would have me act in such an emergency. I trust 
my future conduct in such an hour would 
prove worthy the patriotic instructions you have 
given." 

General William B. Franklin, who graduated at 
the head of the class of 1843, writes to the author: 
" Grant arrived at West Point on June 3, 1839, and 
I arrived there the day following. We were as- 
signed to the same squad for drill, and to adjoining 
rooms in barracks with four other new cadets. Our 
experiences were the same as those of other new 
cadets at that time, and the only strange thing was 
that Grant and I used to be taken for each other 
by an officer to whom I had a letter of introduction, 
and I have heard from others that there was a 
strong likeness between us at that time.* When 
v/e began recitations we were in the same sections 
in studies for a month or six weeks, and sat side 
by side. He was an honest student, but did not 



* This is a surprising circumstance when it is remembered 
that Grant was but five feet eight inches in his mature years, 
while Franklin was considerably over six feet, perhaps with the 
most erect and soldierly figure of any officer in our army. This 
distinction was a few years after the close of the civil war claimed 
for General Hancock " the Superb " by some of his friends, which 
led to a wager, the judges awarding the palm to Franklin. 



26 GENERAL GRANT. 

work for a high standing. He kept a place about 
the middle of the class during the whole course. 
He was much respected as a man of firmness, and 
one who when he made up his mind could not be 
swerved by any force from the course upon which 
he had decided. There were thirty-nine in the class, 
and upon one occasion — the election of managers 
for the summer amusements — we stood nineteen to 
nineteen, and the casting vote was in Grant's hands, 
as, not caring for amusements, he took little inter- 
est in the matter. I remember the conferences held 
and the diplomacy used to induce Grant to vote, and 
to vote right, and what rejoicing there was when 
he decided to vote on our side. After his decision, 
the arguments of the other side (with which he was 
more closely allied than with us) were of no avail. 
These incidents are all insignificant enough. But 
fifty-six years have elapsed since they occurred, and 
I am rather surprised that I remember anything 
about them." 

Dr. Henry Coppee (1821-95), who was at West 
Point with Grant, described him as having been a 
plain, common-sense, straightforward youth, quiet, 
shunning notoriety, contented while others were 
grumbling, performing his duties in a perfunctory 
way, not prominent in the corps, but respected by 
all and beloved by his few friends. At the academy 
nearly every cadet has his nickname, which was 
more generally used than that bestowed on him at 
baptism. Grant was " Uncle Sam.'' in allusion to 
the initials of his name. " He was then and always 
an excellent horseman," continues Coppee. " His 
picture rises up before mc as I write, in the old torn 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY 



27 



coat,* obsolescent leather gig-top loose riding 
pantaloons, with spurs buckled over them, going 
with his clanking saber to the drill hall. He ex- 
hibited but little enthusiasm in anything. His best 
standing was in mathematical branches, and their 
application to mechanics and military engineering." 
General James H. Stokes (1820-94), a class- 
mate from Maryland, said a short time before his 
death: " No one could possibly be more surprised 
than myself at Grant's amazing success in the war. 
We of the ' smart ' set thought the Western boy was 
' countrified.' There was nothing bad about Grant, 
and I had no dislike at all for him, but I did not 
have much intercourse with him. He was not par- 
ticularly tidy about his dress, and he even had a 
certain slouchy air about him that many of the 
class thought unsoldierly, but he never did anything 
positively offensive, and, as he was always quiet 
and attended to his own affairs, we liked him well 
enough, but only in a negative way. As a rider, he 
had no superior in the corps or out of it." Testi- 
mony as to the truth of this statement may be found 
in the following account of one of Grant's many 
feats of horsemanship, related by General James B. 
Fry (1827-94), who in June, 1843, arrived at West 
Point as a candidate for admission to the academy. 
Entering the riding hall, where the members of the 
graduating class was being put through their final 
mounted exercises, he saw Major Delafield, the 
Board of Visitors, and a large number of ladies and 

* Riding jackets had not at that time been introduced, and 
the cadets generally donned their shabbiest clothes to wear in the 
heat and dust of the riding hall. 



28 GENERAL GRANT. 

gentleman. The class, all mounted, were formed in 
line through the center of the hall, and H. R. Hersh- 
berger, the riding master, placing the leaping bar 
at a height of six feet five inches, called out, " Cadet 
Grant!" A clean-faced, slender, blue-eyed young 
fellow, weighing about one hundred and twenty 
pounds, dashed forward from the ranks on a power- 
fully built chestnut-sorrel horse, and galloped down 
the opposite side of the hall. As he turned at the far- 
ther end and came down the straight stretch across 
which the bar was placed, the horse increased his 
pace, and, measuring his strides for the great leap 
before him, bounded into the air and cleared the 
bar, carrying his perfect rider as if man and beast 
had been welded together. The spectators were 
breathless. "Very well done, sir!" growled "old 
Hershberger." The class was dismissed and dis- 
persed, but, concluded the general, " Cadet Grant 
remained a living image in my memory." It is the 
highest jump recorded in military annals, but has 
been frequently surpassed in civil life. A thorough- 
bred recently cleared a bar seven feet high in the 
Madison Square Garden of New York. 

General Joseph J. Reynolds, of the class of 1843, 
writes: "Grant as a cadet was not specially noted 
in any respect. He was modest, unassuming, not 
disposed to assert himself, was outspoken, straigb.t- 
forward, candid, and self-reliant; was comi)anion- 
able, given to no vices, and was not at all inclined to 
be a leader among his classmates; while an all- 
round good fellow, he was devoid of extremes in 
any direction. He was not a hard student, though 
he neglected nothing, always held a safe place about 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 



29 



the middle of the class, but was most proficient in 
the more difficult and practical studies — mathe- 
matics, mechanics, and engineering — showing 
strong capacities under good control. He was an 
expert horseman, and fond of exhibiting during 
cavalry exercise, the remarkable ability as a leaper 
of his favorite big sorrel horse York. He disliked 
drill and parades, and did not hesitate to say so, car- 
ing nothing for military show." 

In a recent letter General James Longstreet 
says: " I have tried to recall something of Grant 
at West Point, but he was so diffident and retiring 
that no one outside of his class could learn much 
about him. We were at the academy three years 
together, he being of the class next to my own, but 
I never saw him away from his immediate associ- 
ates, except occasionally when he would venture in 
a game of football. As he was not strong enough 
for a leading part, he made but little impression 
upon the players. He was the most daring and 
accomplished horseman at the academy. After 
graduating, we served in the same regiment for two 
years, but it was in monotonous camp life. We 
sometimes arose much distressed at having lost 
during the day seventy-five or eighty cents at five- 
cent poker, or ' jack pot,' as it is now called. . . . 
Grant and Lincoln were the only two men capable 
of mastering the situation brought about by the 
war of secession. Neither was appreciated during 
life, and I may say that not even now can the peo- 
ple entirely compass the extent of their grandeur." 
Elsewhere the general writes: "But the class next 
after us (1843) was destined to furnish the man who 



30 



GENERAL GRANT. 



was to eclipse all — to rise to the rank of general, 
an office made by Congress to honor his services; 
who became President of the United States, and 
for a second term; who received the salutations 
of all the powers of the civilized world in his trav- 
els as a private citizen around the earth; of noble, 
generous heart, a lovable character, a valued friend 
— Ulysses S. Grant." * 

Father Deshon, of the Paulist Fathers' College 
of New York, who shared a room with Grant for 
a year in Camp Cockloft, North Barracks, when 
they were second classmen, informs me that a 
lower classman was taken in on trial, but soon dis- 
missed for various reasons, among others owing to 
his habit of making notes on his finger nails and 
cufifs before attending his classes, which Grant 
deemed dishonorable. Indeed, all that w^as mean or 
envious the young Ohio cadet seemed to turn from 
so completely that when in his company it appeared 
almost as if such unfortunate characteristics did not 
then exist among the cadets of the academy. 

General William T. Sherman (i820-'9i) said: 
" I remember as plain as if it was yesterday Grant's 
first appearance among us. I was three years ahead 
of him. I remember seeing his name on the paper 
in the hall on the bulletin board where the names 
of all the newcomers were posted. I ran my eye 
down the columns, and there saw U. S. Grant. Some 
of us began to make names to fit the initials. One 

* From Manassas to Appomattox, Memoirs of the Civil War 
in America, by James Longstreet, Lieutenant General Confeder- 
ate Army. Philadelphia, 1896. 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 31 

said ' United States Grant,' another ' Uncle Sam 
Grant ' ; a third shouted ' Sam Grant.' That name 
stuck to him." 

General Alfred Pleasanton (1824-97), who grad- 
uated a year later than Grant, remembered him as 
a perfect horseman, remarking to a friend that 
there was something almost mysterious in the power 
he possessed as a cadet to communicate to a horse 
his wishes. He also recalled the curious circum- 
stance that " Sam Grant," like Napoleon and Well- 
ington, had no ear for music, either during his 
career at the academy or in later life, and that as a 
cadet he never succeeded in learning the bugle calls 
for classes and other duties. 

In a letter dated February, 1897, General Sam- 
uel G. French, the oldest member of the class of 
1843, writes: " General Grant came to West Point 
in June, 1839, a youth; in appearance a country 
boy. His manners were easy, quiet, and unob- 
trusive. In company he was reticent, but always 
an attentive listener, and, if drawn into conversa- 
tion, his remarks were brief and pertinent, and yet 
there was a rich vein of humor in his intercourse 
with his intimate friends. In forming the sections 
of a new class for study, the cadets were arranged 
alphabetically. In our case the first section em- 
braced all names from A to E. The second section 
commencing at F, threw Grant and myself into the 
same section, and we remained together in nearly 
every study during our cadetship. Consequently, 
I heard nearly every demonstration he made. Like 
many others, he was not a competitor for ' honors,' 
but was content to be diligent enough to master 



32 



GENERAL GRANT. 



the course without hard study and maintain a stand- 
ing near the middle of the class. 

" In a retrospection that runs back near sixty 
years the lights of the past burn dimly, yet I will 
relate a few of the incidents of his cadet life that 
were manifestations of character that he main- 
tained throughout his remarkable career in after 
years. One day, in a recitation in astronomy, he 
was asked to repeat the signs of the zodiac, and, 
following the text-book, he commenced, ' Aries, 
Taurus, Gemini,' and stopped and said, ' I don't re- 
member them.' Then I was called on to repeat them, 
and, to the astonishment of the professor, I began: 

' The Ram, the Bull, the heavenly Twins, next the Crab the Lion 
shines, the Virgin and the Scales, 
The Scorpion, Archer, and the Goat, the Man who carries the 
watering pot, and Fish with glittering tails.' 

' Yes, yes, yes,' exclaimed the professor (Joseph 
Roberts), ' that poetry is very nice, but, Mr. French, 
you will please translate it into the language of the 
text-book.' In returning to quarters, Grant asked 
me to write it out for him, as it was the best and 
most practical way to remember them. I mention 
this to point out his practical mind. 

" On another occasion Grant was sent to the 
blackboard to demonstrate a complex problem, to 
do which required a drawing of great nicety. He 
covered the board with innumerable lines. If the 
figure had been drawn plainly the demonstration 
would have been plain. He connnenced by saying, 
' Let these lines represent rays of light falling on 
this plain, and let this plain intersect the plain C D 
at this line,' etc., pointing them out by running his 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 33 

fingers over the board. This was not satisfactory; 
it was repeated over. Finally the professor said, 
' Mr. Grant, please point out which line represents 
the intersection of two certain plains.' Grant, still 
facing him, turned his arm around, and, without 
looking, spread the palm of his hand flat on the 
board, fingers radiating, covering a dozen lines, 
said, ' This is it.' The scene was too much for the 
sobriety of any one, save Grant himself, who main- 
tained his tranquil manner amid the laughter. He 
always insisted that he did point ovit the line. 

" The class was divided into two sections for 
instruction in riding. Among the horses there was 
one that possessed what is termed great ' gathering 
power,' arising by extreme development of muscle 
in the hind quarters. Grant rode this horse in the 
first section and Cave J. Gouts in the second. The 
horse could leap over a bar near seven feet high, 
and the manner the animal did it made it difficult 
for the rider to maintain his seat. The horse would 
approach the pole at a slow canter, stop, and, rear- 
ing up nearly perpendicular, then with the pro- 
digious power of his hind quarters spring up and 
alight on his fore feet close by the bar on the other 
side, while his hind feet were barely over the bar. 
It was a perilous feat, and none of us cared to try it. 
Before General Winfield Scott and ^he Board of 
Visitors Grant leaped the bar held high above the 
head of the soldier who rested it against the wall. 
This is undoubted evidence of his horsemanship. 

" One morning, when our squad was marching 
to the academic hall to recite, Frank Gardner pro- 
duced an old silver watch that was apparently about 



34 



GENERAL GRANT. 



four inches in diameter. It was passed along from 
one cadet to another to look at, and when we ar- 
rived at the section-room door it was in the hands 
of Grant. He could hide or carry it only by putting 
it in the breast of his coat. When the section was 
seated, Zealous B. Tower (who that day heard the 
recitation) sent Grant and three other cadets to the 
blackboards. The weather was mild, and the room 
door open. When Grant had turned from the board 
and had commenced to demonstrate, suddenly a 
sound resembling a buzz saw and a Chinese gong 
burst forth and drowned all proceedings, and in the 
uproar we laughed aloud with impunity. ' Shut 
that door! ' cried Tower, and that only made mat- 
ters worse. ' Fast and furious ' went the buzz saw, 
and louder went the gong. Bang! went something. 
The noise stopped. While all this rattling din was 
going on Grant looked as innocent as a lamb, and 
in the profound silence that followed he began, 
' And, as I was going to remark, if we subtract 
equation E from equation A, we have,' etc. I men- 
tion this to show how he could conceal his emo- 
tions, for it was that alarm watch in his bosom that 
caused all this commotion. It had been set to go 
off, and it did go off! From the bewilderment of 
Tower to locate whence the noise proceeded, he may 
yet be ignorant of the cause of it. 

" Grant was not an artist or a good draughtsman, 
and, when in the drawing academy, if there was an 
animal in his picture,''' I would tell him to ' put a 



* General Frcncli proli.ibly refers to Cirant's first attempts at 
the academy, for some of liis pictures executed, in his thiid and 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 35 

legend to it for explanation or write over it, " This 
is a horse or cow," as the case might be, so that an 
admirer would not be mislead.' He was well aware 
of this, and when he was President I asked him to 
give me an order through the War Department to 
have a painting that I had made — which was kept 
by the Academic Board, and which was then still 
hanging on the walls of the picture gallery for ex- 
hibition — be given me. His reply was humorous. 
He said, ' Write me a note to remind me of it, and 
you shall have your painting, and also any of mine 
that you can find there.' " 

General Zealous B. Tower, Grant's only surviv- 
ing West Point instructor, writing in February, 
1897, says: "Passing without difficulty the pre- 
scribed examination for admission at the Military 
Academy, Grant was fairly proficient in his studies 
through his four years of cadet life. Yet, though 
possessing undoubted capacity to excel, he did not 
evince that strong desire to attain high class stand- 
ing, which incites to severe and persistent applica- 
tion. To the more solid and scientific branches of 
study, as mathematics and physics, for which he 
had a liking, he applied himself more diligently 
than to the lighter studies of the academic course. 
Grant's intimate associates at West Point were 
aware that he was not putting forth his strength, 
and he admits this frankly in his Memoirs. The 
stimulus of ambition seems to have been lacking, 
otherwise one so mentally strong would not have 



fourth years, are still preserved and are exceedingly creditable to a 
young cadet who could give but little time to the study of art. 



36 GENERAL GRANT. 

been content with medium success among his class- 
mates. In his later years Grant told me that on 
one occasion having neglected his lesson, he gave 
a solution to the problem submitted to him by 
Prof. Church different from the text, whereupon 
the professor informed him that it was correct, 
but if he had read his text-book he would have 
found a shorter solution. Grant, however, received 
a maximum for the recitation." 

In 1865, Prof. Dennis H. Mahan wrote: " Grant 
was what we termed a first section man in all his 
scientific studies — that is, one who accomplishes 
the full course. He always showed himself a clear 
thinker and a steady worker, belonging to the class 
of compactly strong men who w-ent at their task at 
once and kept at it until finished. . . . That Sher- 
man should accomplish something great, I was pre- 
pared to learn. But not so in Grant, whose round, 
cheery, boyish face, though marked with character 
and quiet manner, gave none of that evidence of 
what he has since shown he possesses." 

Of his West Point career Grant himself said: 
" A military life had no charms for me, and I had 
not the faintest idea of staying in the army even if I 
should be graduated, which I did not expect. Mathe- 
matics was easy to me, so that when January came 
I passed the examination, taking a good standing 
in that branch. In French, the only other study 
at that time in the first year's course, my standing 
was very low. In fact, if the class had been turned 
the other end foremost I should have been near 
head. I never succeeded in getting squarely at 
cither end of niy class in any one study during the 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY 



37 



four years. I came near it in French, infantry and 
cavalry tactics, and conduct. I had not been ' called 
out ' as a corporal, but when I returned from fur- 
lough I found myself the last but one — about my 
standing in all the tactics — of eighteen sergeants. 
The promotion was too much for me. That year 
my standing in the class, as shown by the number 
of demerits of the year, was about the same as it 
was among the sergeants, and I was dropped, and 
served the fourth year as a private. During my 
first year's encampment General Scott (1786-1866) 
visited West Point and reviewed the cadets. With 
his commanding figure, his quite colossal size, and 
showy uniform, I thought him the finest specimen 
of manhood my eyes had ever beheld, and the most 
to be envied. I could never resemble him in appear- 
ance, but I believe I did have a presentiment for a 
moment that I should occupy his place on review, 
although I had no intention then of remaining in 
the army." * 

On an earlier occasion Grant said : " I had no 
very easy time of it at West Point. In a class of 
more than one hundred I was behind them all in 
almost everything. I never succeeded in getting 
very near either the head or the foot of the class. 
I was within three of the foot in the languages, I 
believe, and within five of the head in mathematics. 
I was at the head in horsemanship, but that did not 
count. I graduated as number twenty-one, and was 
exceedingly glad to get it." 

Grant's official record as furnished to the au- 

* Personal Memoirs, vol. i, p. 41. 



38 



GENERAL GRANT. 



thor by Colonel Oswald H. Ernst, Corps of En- 
gineers, commanding the Military Academy, to- 
gether with his comments, will be read with inter- 
est: "When the general reported here in June, 
1839, for examination for admission he signed the 
registry book as Ulysses Hiram Grant, but, with 
this exception, he is born on all the other records 
in this office as Ulysses Simpson Grant. The letter 
from the War Department, dated May i, 1839, giv- 
ing the names of the candidates appointed for that 
year, records him as U. S. Grant, and his letter of 
appointment bore the name of Ulysses Simpson 
Grant. He held the rank of cadet sergeant from 
July 2, 1 841, to June 17. 1842, and was a cadet pri- 
vate during the remainder of his course at the 
academy. It appears from the accompanying table 
that in general he stood about the middle of his 
class throughout the course, being above the aver- 
age in mathematical studies and below it in lan- 
guages and deportment." 



ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT, OF OHIO. 

Entered July /, iS^^g, aged seventeen years and two months ; 
graduated June, iS^j. 

Third Class, June, 1841. 

(53 members.) 

General standing 24 



Fourth Class, June, 1840. 
(60 members.) 

General standing 27 

Mathematics 16 

French 49 

Conduct 156 

(Number graded .... 233.) 
Number of demerits 59 



Mathematics 10 

French 44 

Drawing 23 

Ethics ; 46 

Conduct 144 

(Numlicr graded .... 219.) 

Number of dements 67 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY 



39 



Second Class, June, 1842. 
(41 members.) 

General standing 20 

Ph.losophy 15 

Chemistry 22 

Drawing 19 

Conduct 157 

(Number graded .... 217.) 
Number of demerits q8 



First Class, June, 1843. 
(39 members.) 

General standing 21 

Engineering 16 

Ethics 28 

Infantry tactics 28 

Artillery tactics 25 

Mineralogy and geology.. . 17 
Conduct 156 

(Number graded. . . 223.)* 
Number of demerits 66 



A few months before graduation General Jaines 
A. Hardie (1823-76), of Grant's class, said to one 
of the instructors, " Well, sir, if a great emergency 
arises in this country during our lifetime Sam Grant 
will be the man to meet it," and another member of 
the same class, who stood second at graduation, 
the Rev. George Deshon, expressed the opinion in 
1845 to Colonel Henry L. Kendrick (181 1-91), one 
of their professors, that Grant would some day prove 
to the Academic Board that he was the strongest 
man in his class. A third prediction was made by 
Benjamin Bevie, a bugler at the time Grant was a 
cadet, and who was a member of the band. He was 
married, and his wife attended to Cadet Grant's 
washing. Referring to his initials of U. S., he sev- 
eral times said, " Well, cadet, you will be President 
of the United States." " When I am," answered 
Grant, " you may remind me that I now promise to 



* In determining standing in "conduct," the corps of cadets 
was considered as a whole and each cadet was given his number 
in order of merit irrespective of class. The expression used above, 
" number graded," indicates the total strength of the corps at that 
time. 

4 



40 



GENERAL GRANT. 



make you my secretan-." The modest musician 
lived to see Grant our Chief ^Magistrate, but never 
reminded the President of his promise. 

So far as can be learned from Grant's surviv- 
ing classmates,* numbering thirty-nine, who gradu- 
ated, of the one hundred and more who had been 
appointed in 1839, he made the usual unauthor- 
ized expeditions to Benny Havens's saloon below 
Highland Falls, but rarely indulged in liquor of 
any kind, nor did he at that period smoke or use 
tobacco in any other form. His frolics were all of 
an innocent character. One of these the general 
related the last time that he dined with the writer. 
He said: " Late one evening Nat Lyon came to our 
room and proposed if we would cook it that he 
would go out and capture one of old Delafield's 
turkeys. As Deshon and myself assented, he set 
out, returning in less than half an hour with a fine 
fat turkey, which was immediately hung over our 
fire, for at that time they had open fireplaces, with 
unlimited supplies of wood. While the turkey was 
revolving over the brisk fire footsteps were heard 
in the hall, and Lyon f ran out and regained his 
room. Into our quarters presently entered Lieu- 
tenant Grier.J Deshon and myself standing with our 
backs to the fire to screen the turkey. The lieuten- 

* Augur, Deshon, French, Franklin, and Reynolds. 

t General Nathaniel Lyon of the class of 1841 was born in 
Ashford, Conn., July 14, 1818, and was killed in battle near Wil- 
son's Creek, Mo., August 10, 1S61. 

t General William N. Grier of the class of 1835 was born in 
Northumberland, Pa., July li, 1812, and died in California, July 
8, 1885, but a fortnight before Grant. 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 41 

ant looked around, saw nothing, although the room 
was filled with the odor of roast turkey, said ' Good- 
night," and passed out. I am inclined to believe that 
this act of kindness on the part of Grier in not re- 
porting us," added Grant, " may possibly have 
helped to secure his promotion during the late war." 
In the office of the Secretary of War at Wash- 
ington may be seen a framed document entitled 
" Declaration against purchasing, after certain date, 
of John De Witt, post sutler," dated April 15, 1843. 
It is signed by thirty-four members of the class of 
that year, including William B. Franklin, Joseph 
J. Reynolds, Frederick T. Dent, John J. Peck, Sam- 
uel G. French, George Deshon, Rufus Ingalls, and 
U. H. Grant, which would seem to indicate that the 
name transposed by which he was baptized had not 
been at that time entirely abandoned. Of this in- 
teresting relic General Reynolds, one of the sur- 
viving signers, sends the present biographer the 
following account: "We were at the date of this 
document within about sixty days of graduation, 
and, of course, feeling happy. It was then custom- 
ary for the superintendent to grant permission to 
the storekeeper to open an account with the class 
about to graduate. We had some misunderstand- 
ing with the storekeeper, Mr. John De Witt, the 
precise nature of which I do not now recall, but it 
led to the declaration referred to. This matter was 
suggested and managed by George Stevens, of Ver- 
mont, who was drowned while crossing the Rio 
Grande near Matamoras, May 18, 1846, as second 
lieutenant of the Second Dragoons. It seems that 
he preserved the original, and it was found among 



42 



GENERAL GRANT. 



his effects that were forwarded to his family after 
his decease. A few years since it was sent to the 
War Department by a brother of our classmate. 
The paper was passed around for signatures when 
we were finishing fortification drawings, which will 
explain why many names are made in various colors 
of paint, and with brush instead of pen ; others were 
signed afterward wath pen or pencil. The transac- 
tion was simply a freak of a set of youngsters who, 
conscious of the near approach of release from aca- 
demic restrictions, ' felt their oats.' There was noth- 
ing serious in the misunderstanding that brought 
about the ' Declaration,' and I am not by any means 
sure that we stuck to it to the day of graduation. 
On that point my memory is not distinct. The 
document is brought into prominence merely be- 
cause it bears the name of Grant, but his connec- 
tion with it was simply the same as that of his 
thirty odd classmates. You will observe that it is 
signed U. H., not U. S., Grant. It is proper, I 
should add, that John De Witt was held in high 
esteem by us all, and that his family are most kindly 
remembered by those who were then cadets for 
many social courtesies. Two of his daughters mar- 
ried army officers." 

Among the important jniblic buildings of the 
academy is a sul)stantial and massive one construct- 
ed of granite, and known as Grant Hall. Its prin- 
cipal apartment is used as a mess hall for the corps 
of cadets, and its walls are hung with portraits of 
many of its most distinguished graduates. In Octo- 
ber, 1889, paintings of the three generals of the 
armv whose names will remain indissolublv con- 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 43 

nected with the war for the preservation of the 
Union were presented by George W. Childs, of 
Philadelphia, on which occasion General Sherman 
said: "I think it will be admitted, and I can say 
it without suspicion of egotism, that Grant, Sheri- 
dan, and myself were the three central military fig- 
ures of the war, and I am glad that we shall go 
down to posterity together. ... I was older than 
Grant or Sheridan. No three men ever lived on the 
earth's surface so diverse in mental and physical 
attributes as the three men whose portraits you now 
look upon. Different in every respect save one — 
we had a guiding star, we had an emblem of na- 
tionality in our mind, implanted at West Point, 
which made us come together for a common pur- 
pose as the rays of the sun coming together make 
them burn." 

The most successful students at the Military 
Academy are not infrequently outstripped in later 
life by their slower and less showy comrades. 
What was the West Point standing of many of our 
most illustrious soldiers, several of whom may safe- 
ly be included among the great commanders of our 
nearly completed century? Grant was graduated, 
as has been already stated, number twenty-one in 
a class of thirty-nine; Sherman, number six among 
forty-two graduates; Sheridan, number thirty-four 
in a class of fifty- two; the noble Virginian Thomas, 
number twelve among forty-two classmates ; Meade, 
the hero of Gettysburg, that decisive battle of the 
war, number nineteen in a class of fifty-six; heroic 
Hooker, twenty-nine among fifty comrades; "Stone- 
wall " Jackson, number seventeen ; Sedgwick, twen- 



44 



GENERAL GRANT. 



ty-four in a company of fifty; Longstreet, of 
Georgia, sixty in a class of sixty-two; Pickett, of 
Virginia, at the foot of his class; and gallant Han- 
cock, number eighteen among twenty-five gradu- 
ates. From these examples, that might be indefi- 
nitely extended among the thirty-six hundred and 
ninety graduates of the United States Military 
Academy, it will be seen that most of those men- 
tioned who won renown on many a doubtful day 
approximated more closely to the foot than to the 
head of their classes. Of course, it has occasion- 
ally happened that the honor men, like Halleck and 
McClellan, of the armies of the North, and like 
the Confederate leaders Joseph E. Johnston and 
Robert E. Lee, attained to high rank and renown, 
but more generally fortune has favored the less 
brilliant cadets of the academy.* 

Grant left West Point in June, 1843, ^s brevet 
second lieutenant in the Fourth United States In- 
fantry, then, as afterward to the close of his great 

* In General Benjamin F. Butler's Memoirs (Boston, 1892) he 
says : " Grant evidently did not get enough of West Point into 
him to hurt him any ; he was less like a West Point man than 
any officer I ever knew. The reader sees how much of a military 
education I lost in not having gone to West Point to get a mili- 
tary education like that of Grant. The less of West Point a man 
has the more successful he will be. We see how little Grant had. 
All of the very successful generals of our war stood near the lower 
end of their classes at West Point. As examples take Grant, 
Sherman, and Sheridan. All the graduates in the higher ranks in 
their classes never came to anything as leaders of armies in the 
war. The whole thing puts me in mind of an advertisement I 
saw in a newspaper in my youth. It contained a recipe for mak- 
ing graham bread out of unbolted flour mixed with sawdust. The 
recipe ended as follows : ' N. B. — The less sawdust the better.' " 



CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 45 

career, a character which, in the words of a friend, 
'■ betrayed no trust, falsified no word, violated no 
rights, manifested no tyranny, sought no personal 
aggrandizement, complained of no hardship, dis- 
played no jealousy, opposed no subordinate, but in 
whatever sphere protected every interest, upheld his 
flag, and was ever known by his humanity, sagacity, 
courage, and honor." What more could be claimed 
for any young American? What for the greatest 
of American commanders? 



CHAPTER III. 

THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 

Grant began his army service in July, 1843, ^^ 
brevet second lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry, 
his commission being signed by John Tyler. This 
regiment, commanded by Colonel Joseph H. Vose, 
was then stationed at Jefiferson Barracks, St. Louis, 
the chief military station of the West. In the sum- 
mer of 1844 it was moved to Nachitoches, La., in 
readiness to march on Mexico should the war at 
that time threatening be declared. Texas was then 
fighting for her independence. Her representatives 
n^d been for some time in Washington see'ix'/Ag to 
induce our Government to take her imder its pro- 
tection. The bill for the annexation of Texas passed 
Congress near the close of the session of 1844-45, 
and was promptly signed by President Tyler, March 
I, 1845. When the Fourth heard of this it expected 
marching orders immediately, no one doubting that 
war with Mexico would be the result. This did 
not come, however, until July, and then carried the 
regiment no nearer the seat of war than New Or- 
leans, which, owing to the presence of yellow fever, 
was more dangerous to life than the battlefield. 
46 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 



47 



Early in September, however, the Fourth re- 
ceived further orders which carried them to Corpus 
Christi, Tex., then held by General Zachary Tay- 
lor's army of occupation. This force comprised 
five regiments of infantry — the Third, Fourth, 
Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth — one regiment of artil- 
lery acting as infantry, four companies of light 
artillery, and seven companies of the Second Regi- 
ment of Dragoons, the total force not exceeding 
three thousand, but most of them regular troops, 
and officered chiefly by graduates of the United 
States Military Academy — a compact, brave, well- 
drilled body of troops of excellent esprit, and, as 
the sequel proved, most effective. It was charged 
that the army had been ordered there with a view 
to inviting attack; if so, the movement failed, for 
the Mexicans showed no inclination to light. After 
a few days the command was moved over to the 
Rio Grande, opposite the fortified Mexican town 
of Matamoras, and began throwing up intrench- 
ments. The Mexicans soon took up the gage thus 
boldly thrown down. As soon as the intrench- 
ments were sufficiently strong. General Taylor 
marched his command back to Point Isabel, on the 
coast, some twenty-five miles distant, for supplies, 
leaving the Second Infantry,- Major Jacob Brown 
commanding, to garrison the post. Barely had he 
reached Point Isabel when the muffled roar of guns 
from above told him that Brown had been attacked 
and the war begun. 

No news of the result could be obtained, for 
prowling bands of Mexicans cut oflf all communi- 
cation. Hurriedly transferring his supplies to the 



48 GENERAL GRANT. 

wagons, Taylor, his army re-enforced at Point Isa- 
bel, but still less than three thousand strong, 
marched back to the relief of the Seventh. Of 
this advance the enemy had early intelligence, and 
were on the alert to intercept it. 

The road from Point Isabel to Matamoras lay 
over an open, rolling prairie, treeless until the tim- 
ber that fringed the various channels of the Rio 
Grande was reached, for the river, winding through 
the alluvial bottoms, had cut and then relinquished 
several channels, some of which were dry, others 
showing small lakes or pools at intervals, but still 
covered with groves of heavy timber, which in some 
instances extended as far as three miles into the 
prairie. Of these outlying channels, the one near- 
est the advancing column was that at Resaca de la 
Palma, some five miles east of the true bed of the 
river, and which was filled with a succession of the 
small lakes or pools before mentioned. Beneath 
the forest were dense thickets of chaparral, almost 
impassable, while the grass of the prairie on the 
verge of the timber was nearly the height of a man, 
stifY, and fitted with points nearly as sharp and hard 
as those of a needle. The little army, toiling over 
the prairie, reached this timber belt at a place called 
Palo Alto — " tall trees " — and there found the Mexi- 
can army drawn up in line of battle to receive them. 
Taylor in this, his initial battle, displayed great 
coolness and judgment. He halted the column and 
formed line of battle, throwing a battalion to the 
rear to act as a reserve, and coolly detailing a pla- 
toon of each company to fill their own and their 
comrades' canteens from a brook flowing near. This 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 



49 



done, he ordered an advance, and, coming within 
artillery range, brought his guns — a battery of six- 
pounders, one of twelve-pounder howitzers, and 
two eighteen-pounders — to the front and opened 
fire. The battle became now an artillery duel, in 
which the invaders had the advantage, their guns, 
though antiquated enough in modern eyes, being 
superior to those of the Mexicans, which threw 
only solid shot. The latter often struck the plain 
in advance of the Americans and then riccochetted 
through the tall grass so slowly that the ranks 
would open and allow them to pass harmlessly 
through. This artillery fire continued for some 
hours, with loss to the enemy and little to the 
Americans. Several advances were made during 
the day, the result generally being favorable to the 
attacking force, and at nightfall, by a rapid for- 
ward movement, the latter took and held the posi- 
tion occupied in the morning by the Mexicans, 
the American loss being but nine killed and forty- 
seven wounded. 

This was Lieutenant Grant's first battle. He 
seems to have borne the ordeal without flinching, 
although once at least his nerves were put to the 
test, for a cannon ball swept through the ranks near 
him, killing an enlisted man and mortally wounding 
Captain John Page of his company. 

Grant played a more important part in the next 
day's battle or skirmish — that of Resaca de la 
Palma. The Mexicans withdrew during the night 
and took post on the farther bank of the old chan- 
nel at Resaca — a strong position, protected by the 
lakes and by improvised intrenchments of dead trees 



50 



GENERAL GRANT. 



and brush. Captain George A. McCall, of Grant's 
regiment, with Captain Charles F. Smith, of the 
artillery, were now ordered to make a reconnois- 
sance, which left Lientenant Grant in command. 
The reconnoitering force, threading the thickets as 
best it could, foimd no enemy until it reached the 
old channel at Resaca, where it discovered the in- 
trenchments, and reported the fact to General Tay- 
lor. The main body was promptly ordered up, and 
when it struck the enemy the battle began. It was 
a day of gallant charges and sturdy defense w-ith- 
out repulse, but when it closed the Americans were 
masters of the field. 

Lieutenant Grant commanded his company 
creditably during the engagement, at one time lead- 
ing a charge which captured a Mexican colonel 
and several privates. Slowly beating back the enemy, 
at night the army occupied its old quarters opposite 
Matamoras, and relieved Fort Brown, wdiich had 
been hard pressed for several days. Major Harvey 
Brown, the commanding ofBcer, having been killed 
early in the seige. 

When news of these two battles reached Wash- 
inton, war was declared, and Taylor began prep- 
arations for the invasion of Mexico. He crossed 
the Rio Grande and occupied Matamoras. \'olun- 
teers flocked to his standard, among them an Ohio 
regiment, the major of which was Thomas L. 
Hamer, the member of Congress who had appoint- 
ed young Grant to West Point. In the army of 
invasion at this time were also Albert Sidney John- 
ston, of Kentucky, and Robert E. Lee, of Vir- 
ginia, the Confederate generals whom our young 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 51 

lieutenant subsequently confronted and defeated in 
the civil war. Both were his superiors in years and 
rank, Johnston having been born in 1803 and Lee 
four years later. 

Taylor's plan was to attack the Mexican capital 
from the north by way of Alonterey, a city lying at 
the entrance of a pass in the Sierra Madre Moun- 
tains, through which ran the main road to the capi- 
tal. He began his campaign on August 19, 1846, 
the troops, except the cavalry, artillery, and Gar- 
land's brigade, being moved up the Rio Grande by 
steamers to Camargo, the head of navigation. The 
marching column moved by the south bank, Lieu- 
tent Grant being detailed to act as quartermaster 
and commissary of his regiment. 

From Camargo the army moved on Monterey 
in four columns, each a day's march apart, until 
Maria, twenty-four miles from Monterey, w^as 
reached, when it was consolidated and moved en 
masse. Before it towns, hamlets, and farms were 
depopulated, the women and children often being 
seen scampering over the hills to escape the dreaded 
Los Gringos— the Yankees. By September 19th 
Taylor had massed his army at Walnut Springs, 
three miles from Monterey, and his engineer offi- 
cers, under Major Jared Mansfield, were making 
their reconnoissance. The town was found to be 
situated on a small stream flowing out of the pass, 
while close behind the city and protecting its rear 
rose a range of hills. To the north, between the 
town and the army, lay a wide plain, extending to 
Walnut Springs. Where the last few straggling 
houses of the suburbs encroached upon this plain 



52 



GENERAL GRANT. 



stood its main defense, a strong fort walled on all 
sides, which from its somber color the soldiers at 
once named the " Black Fort." There were other 
fortifications on two detached spurs of the moun- 
tains to the north and northwest; on one of these 
stood also the Bishop's Palace, a large stone struc- 
ture, capable of being used for defense. The guns 
from these heights also commanded the road to 
Saltillo, which left the city on the west. On the 
eastern side were two or three detached works; on 
the south the mountain stream and range of hills 
before mentioned. There were also interior de- 
fenses worthy of mention, the plaza or square being 
filled with hastily raised parapets, behind which 
cannon sweeping all the principal streets were 
mounted, while the housetops overlooking it had 
been filled with ramparts of sand bags for the 
protection of infantry. 

These various works were held by ten thou- 
sand men under General Pedro de Ampudia. Tay- 
lor's army, numbering six thousand five hundred 
men, was massed in three divisions, under Gen- 
erals Butler, Twiggs, and Worth. The engineers 
reported that troops could be marched around 
to the northwest of the city, out of range of the 
guns on the heights and of the Black Fort, and 
seize the Saltillo road, which would cut ofT the 
enemy from the interior and from his base of 
supplies. Worth with his division was dispatched 
to accomplish this coitp, while the other two di- 
visions were drawn up to threaten the works 
on the cast anfl north, and prevent their sending 
re-enforcements to those on the west. The real in- 



i 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 53 

tent of Worth's movement, however, does not seem 
to have been penetrated by the Mexicans. The 
former bivouacked that night on the heights to the 
northwest of the town, while his engineers — one of 
whom was Lieutenant George G. Meade, later the 
hero of Gettysburg — penetrated to the Saltillo road, 
finding the route feasible. Next day Worth reached 
this road, turned east, and captured the two heights 
on which were the forts, and was in virtual posses- 
sion of the western side of the city. The same night 
General Taylor succeeded in raising an intrench- 
ment and mounting it with two twenty-four-pound- 
er howitzers and a ten-inch mortar within easy 
range of the Black Fort, Grant's regiment sup- 
porting the artillerists while on this duty. Grant 
himself was not present, however, having been or- 
dered as regimental quartermaster to remain in 
charge of the public property at Walnut Springs. 
At daylight the enemy discovered the battery, and 
opened a brisk fire upon it, which was replied to 
with equal spirit. The cannonading acted like new 
wine on the blood of the young lieutenant in camp, 
and at length, unable to remain inactive while his 
comrades were fighting at fearful odds, he mounted 
and rode to the battlefield. Scarcely had he reached 
it when the command to charge was given, and he 
rushed forward with his regiment, almost the only 
man on horseback, and therefore a more conspicu- 
ous target. Rising out of a depression in front of 
the American batteries, the column met a decimat- 
ing fire from the Black Fort, the redoubts at the 
eastern end of the city, and of musketry from the 
supports, which killed or disabled in a few mo- 



54 GENERAL GRANT, 

ments fully one third of the force. The latter to 
escape it retreated not backward, but eastward to- 
ward the road running from Walnut Springs to the 
city, and when out of range halting. At this junc- 
ture Grant gave up his horse to Adjutant Hoskins, 
of his regiment, who, being in ill health, was un- 
able to keep step with the ranks. 

Soon shot began thinning the ranks again, the 
Mexican gunners having found their range, and 
the regiment once more fell back, this time to a 
field of corn northeast of the lower batteries. Ad- 
jutant Hoskins in this retreat was killed, and Lieu- 
tenant Grant was designated to perform his duties. 
This charge, it is true, was but a feint to divert 
attention from Worth's division — which, as w^e have 
seen, was engaged in the attack on the batteries of 
the Saltillo road — but it was illy advised and exe- 
cuted, since the Fourth, by making a detour, might 
have reached and attacked the eastern batteries 
without coming under the fire of the Black Fort. 
A portion of Garland's brigade did succeed in ef- 
fecting a lodgment in the eastern quarter, as did 
Quitman's, and at about the same time that Worth 
from the Saltillo road captured the w^estern de- 
fenses, so that on the eve of the 20th the eastern 
and western portions of the city were in the hands 
of the Americans, while the center, or plaza, and the 
Black Fort on the north were still held by the 
Mexicans. The city, however, had been invested. 
This state of affairs continued throughout the 22d, 
a regiment of Kentucky volunteers supporting the 
intreiichnicnts opposite the Black Fort, and a com- 
]->any from each regiment guarding the camp at 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 



55 



Walnut Springs, to which it is to be presumed 
Lieutenant Grant returned after the fighting was 
over. On the night of the 23d the enemy evacu- 
ated the batteries which he still held on the east, 
concentrating his forces in the plaza and the Black 
Fort. The former, it will be remembered, was de- 
fended by its own intrenchments, and with the streets 
leading to it was commanded by infantry posted 
on the flat roofs of the houses. On the morning of 
the 23d Twigg's and Butler's troops in the city 
began advancing toward this plaza by streets run- 
ning parallel with it and under cover of the houses, 
but at the street crossings they were exposed to a 
deadly fire of grapeshot and musketry from the 
plaza. The Third and Fourth Regiments, Lieuten- 
ant Grant marching with the latter, succeeded in 
advancing within a square of the plaza, although 
at a heavy loss, the Third especially losing five out 
of twelve oflficers present. At this point they were 
halted, and the men busied themselves with picking 
ofT the enemy from the roofs of the houses when- 
ever they showed themselves above the parapet 
walls. While in this position Lieutenant Grant per- 
formed an act which militates against the commonly 
received opinion, fostered by his own modesty, that 
there was little of the martial fire and gallantry of 
the soldier in his composition. 

The ammunition had given out, and Garland, 
unwilling to command any one to perform such 
perilous service, called for a volunteer to ride back 
to General Twiggs for a fresh supply. Grant 
promptly responded, and, bringing his skill in 
horsemanship into play, spurred his steed to his 
5 



56 GENERAL GRANT. 

utmost, and riding him, as the Comanches do, with 
his body on the unexposed side, succeeded in run- 
ning the gantlet safely. Before the ammunition 
could be sent, however, the regiments were seen re- 
turning as they had come, having been ordered to 
retire from the position. In his headlong flight 
out Grant came upon an American sentry pacing 
before a house. "What are you doing here?" he 
demanded, drawing rein. " Field hospital inside," 
replied the man, saluting, and on investigating the 
young officer found it to be true. Within were Cap- 
tain William S. Williams, of the Engineer Corps, 
Lieutenant Territt, and a number of soldiers, all 
badly wounded. He continued his flight, after 
promising to report their condition, but the house 
was taken by the enemy before aid could reach 
them, and the wounded died from lack of care. 
Meanwhile Worth's division had been advancing 
toward the plaza from the western or opposite quar- 
ter, and, by means of the ingenious expedient of 
cutting a passage through the walls of the houses, 
was able to approach so near the plaza by sunset that 
General Ampudia during the night surrendered. 

At this juncture Winfield Scott, the rank- 
ing officer of the army, was sent to take command 
in Mexico, and began organizing a campaign 
after his original plan — viz., the capture of Vera 
Cruz on the Gulf, the great seaport of Mexico, and 
an approach from thence upon the capital. General 
Taylor could not well be deposed, for all his battles 
had been victories, but his regular troops were trans- 
ferred to the new army of invasion, and he was left 
with only enough volunteers to hold the line al- 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 57 

ready gained, and, indeed, had orders to fall back 
to the Rio Grande if hard pressed. The Fourth 
Regiment was among those thus transferred, being 
attached to the division of General Worth. 

Scott had an army when fully mobilized of from 
ten to twelve thousand men with which to achieve 
the task of conquering a country of seven or eight 
millions of inhabitants, a country with its capital 
intrenched behind mountain walls and guarded by 
defenses that had been hundreds of years in rear- 
ing, and which was two hundred and sixty miles 
inland from Vera Cruz, his base of operations and 
of supplies. The latter, a walled city, was closely 
invested by Scott early in March, 1847, ^md by the 
27th so great a breach had been made in its walls 
that General Morales, commanding the garrison, 
made overtures for a surrender. On the 29th both 
the city and the strong castle of San Juan de Ulloa 
were occupied by the Americans. Five thousand 
prisoners, four hundred pieces of artillery, and a 
great amount of stores and ammunition were cap- 
tured with the city. 

Scott was now ready to begin his march on the 
capital. There were but two roads thither — the 
southerly route by Cordova and Orisaba and the 
more northern road by Jalapa and Perote, both 
leading through mountain passes easily defended, 
and coming together on the great plain which in- 
tervenes between the mountains of Mexico. That 
via Jalapa was chosen. 

On April 8th the column, some ten thousand 
strong, moved, Twiggs's division having the ad- 
vance, Patterson's immediately following, while 



58 GENERAL GRANT. 

Worth's was left behind with orders to march as 
soon as transportation for six days' rations and 
the necessary ammunition could be procured. 
It was important to leave the coast as soon 
as possible, for the dreaded vomito had already 
appeared. Santa Anna, President of Mexico, was 
commander in chief of her forces. Twiggs came 
upon him intrenched at Cerro Gordo, a high spur 
of the mountains some fifty miles west of Vera 
Cruz, and about fifteen east of Jalapa. At this point 
the road, said to have been the work of Cortes, as- 
cends the mountain side by zigzags, with precipices 
on one side and sheer mountain walls on the other. 
Every angle in it was defended by artillery, sup- 
ported by infantry. General Santa Anna deemed 
the position impregnable to front or flank attack, 
and so it seemed to the casual eye. Scott, however, 
turned it by superior strategy and the skill of his 
engineers. The latter, after a reconnoissance, re- 
ported that it was feasible to build a road by which 
the rear of the enemy's works could be gained, and 
Scott ordered the plan carried out. On the right, 
after nightfall, roads were constructed, now into 
deep chasms and again up precipices so steep that 
only men could scale them, and so silently as not to 
attract the notice of the enemy. When finished, 
cannon were let down on them into the chasms by 
ropes held in the hands of platoons of men, and by 
the same process pulled up the opposite slopes, and 
in this way transported to heights in the rear of the 
Mexican position and commanding it. The attack 
was made from these heights on the i8th, and 
proved a complete surprise, the Mexicans not hav- 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 59 

ing dreamed of an enemy on the peaks above them. 
Assailed in both front and rear, the reserves hastily 
retreated, while those who had manned the intrench- 
ments surrendered, some three thousand prisoners, 
besides heavy ordnance and stores, falling into the 
victors' hands. Cerro Gordo, as the place was 
called, was one of the most brilliant small affairs 
of this or of any war. No little of the credit attach- 
ing to it is due the engineer officers who found 
their way to the enemy's rear, Captain Robert E. 
Lee, Lieutenants Beauregard, Foster, McClellan, 
and Smith — names that became famous on later 
and larger fields. It should be borne in mind, how- 
ever, that the victories of Taylor — particularly that 
of Buena Vista, gained after Grant left his com- 
mand — by depleting and demoralizing the Mexi- 
can army, also greatly aided Scott in this and other 
battles before Mexico. 

Immediately after Cerro Gordo the column 
moved on Jalapa, which yielded without resistance. 
Here the army found itself in a beautiful, salubri- 
ous, productive country, capable of supporting it 
without reference to any base of supplies. It was 
important, however, that the mountain passes be- 
yond should be seized and held before the Mexicans 
could rally, and Worth's division was dispatched 
on this duty. It marched through the passes with- 
out opposition, and occupied the important town 
and castle of Perote, at the point where the road 
debouches from the mountains upon the great plain 
of the city of Mexico. 

Scott with the main body remained behind. 
The term of enlistment of four thousand men was 



6o GENERAL GRANT. 

about to expire, and, as they refused to re-enlist, 
it was necessary to await re-enforcements. It was 
August before these came, but as soon as they ar- 
rived the commander entered upon his final cam- 
paign. In the interim Worth's division had been 
pushed forward from Perote and had occupied Pu- 
ebla, which now became Scott's base of operations 
against the city of i^Iexico. 

His force moved upon the capital — some four 
days' march distant — in four divisions, commanded 
by Generals Pillow, Quitman, Twiggs, and Worth, 
and a cavalry corps under Colonel William S. Har- 
ney, composed of detachments of the First, Second, 
and Third Dragoons. The advance began on 
August 7th. On the third day the column gained 
the summit of the Rio Frio Mountain, eleven thou- 
sand feet above tide water, and as it moved down 
its western side caught glimpses of the great city 
and of its frowning defenses a few miles beyond, 
which they were to attack and carry. 

Between it and them lay three lakes — Texcoco 
on the right, Chalco and Xochimilco on the left — 
stretching from the mountain's base to the eastern 
side of the city. Behind the latter the plain extended 
to the base of another mountain some six miles to 
the westward. Through their glasses Scott's en- 
gineers could discover some of the strong fortifica- 
tions which rendered the city almost impregnable 
to a direct attack. Between Lakes Chalco and 
Texcoco ran a narrow thread of sand, which formed 
the bed of the direct road to the capital. On the 
right of this road rose a high and rocky mound, 
called I'^.l Penon, which was stronqlv fortified bv re- 



J 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 6l 

doubts at both base and summit. The engineers, 
after approaching to within gunshot, saw that El 
Penon made a direct approach impracticable, and 
directed their efforts to a flank movement, as at 
Cerro Gordo. They decided on an attack from the 
south and southwest by the south side of Lake Chal- 
co. San Augustin Tlalpam,a small town eleven miles 
due south from the plaza of Mexico, was occu- 
pied on August 1 8th. Between it and the city 
lay the hacienda of San Antonio and the village 
of Churubusco, both strongly fortified, and south- 
west of them the strong fortress of Contreras, set in 
the midst of volcanic rocks near the base of a moun- 
tain which, ragged and broken with lava fragments, 
extended nearly to San Antonio. Garland's bri- 
gade, to which Lieutenant Grant was still attached, 
was advanced from San Augustin Tlalpam on the 
road to Churubusco and Mexico with instructions 
to menace San Antonio, but not to attack till further 
orders. The latter lay deep in the valley, but little 
above the level of the lakes, and wath such natural 
barriers on either side that it could be attacked 
only in front, and then only along a narrow cause- 
way, every foot of which was swept by the enemy's 
guns. In reconnoitering the position, Scott dis- 
covered that if Contreras, some three miles to the 
westward, were captured, the capital could be ap- 
proached from that quarter and San Antonio turned. 
He decided, therefore, to attack this latter posi- 
tion first. Here again the skill of his engineers was 
brought into requisition. They completed a road 
during the day and night of the 19th, by which 
troops were moved to the north and west of the 



62 GENERAL GRANT. 

Stronghold, and next morning Contreras was car- 
ried by a sharp assault of half an hour, in which 
the whole army — except Garland's brigade, posted 
at San Antonio, and part of Quitman's division, sta- 
tioned at San Augustin Tlalpam — were engaged or 
under arms as reserves. 

Upon observing their success, General Gar- 
land's brigade moved forward, but found no ene- 
my in its immediate front, and an hour later, 
receiving orders to advance on San Antonio, it 
found the village deserted. Meantime Clark's bri- 
gade, also of Worth's division, had moved west and 
north around San Antonio, and then turning east 
had reached the causeway leading to Chururbusco 
and the capital. Here its left struck a tefc-dc-pont, 
and brought on an engagement which soon became 
general, and which proved to be the severest conflict 
fought in the valley of Mexico. Garland's brigade 
soon came up from San Antonio and joined in the 
contest. At about the same time Scott reached the 
battlefield, and directed General James Shields to take 
two brigades and turn the enemy's right, which the 
latter succeeded in doing only after severe fighting. 
Whereupon the enemy fled, leaving behind artillery, 
prisoners, and small arms, and the victorious army 
swept along the causeways to the gates of the capi- 
tal. It might easily have entered, but Nicholas P. 
Trist, a commissioner on the part of the United 
States, was in camp, and it was thought that ne- 
gotiations for peace could better be carried on while 
the Mexican (Government was in possession of its 
capital than if it were fugitive and scattered through- 
out tlie country. An armistice was therefore agreed 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 63 

upon, and Mr. Trist opened negotiations with the 
Mexican commissioners. His ultimatum was the 
yielding of Texas absolutely and the cession of 
New ]\Iexico and California for a stipulated sum. 
The Mexicans were so incensed at these terms that 
they broke the truce without giving due notice, and 
Scott in return declared the armistice at an end. 
Both parties now prepared for the final struggle. 

The American army after the battle of Churu- 
busco had taken position on the mountain slopes 
south of the city, its line extending west as far as 
the village of Tacubaya, some four miles southwest 
of the capital. Worth's division occupied that vil- 
lage, which was also the headquarters of General 
Scott. A little more than a mile west stood a long, 
low stone mill, known as Molino del Rey, whose 
flat roof parapeted with sand bags was defended 
by infantry. Farther north, in a direct line between 
Molino del Rey and the city, rose the stronghold 
of Chapultepec, a hill some three hundred feet high 
rising precipitously out of the plain, with its sum- 
mit and rocky sides strongly fortified. The aque- 
duct that supplied Mexico with water ran from 
Molino del Rey past the western base of Chapulte- 
pec to the city through the center of a broad, smooth 
highway. There was another aqueduct leading from 
the eastern base of Chapultepec by a similar road. 
The arches of both aqueducts, it was seen, would 
afford cover for the attacking as well as the defend- 
ing force. Across the roads here and there were 
thrown parapets, defended by a single gun with 
infantr}^ supports for each. The roofs of some of 
the houses along the roads were also occupied by 



64 



GENERAL GRANT. 



armed men. Deep and wide ditches on both sides 
of the streets filled with water completed the defenses 
which Scott's army carried in the taking of Mexico. 
In these final battles the young lieutenant of the 
Fourth especially distinguished himself. He had 
served as quartermaster during the march inland 
with his accustomed energy and activity, on one 
occasion leading a foraging party guarded by one 
thousand men far into the enemy's country in quest 
of supplies. At this early stage of his career he 
gave proofs of that executive ability which later 
distinguished him and was no inconsiderable ele- 
ment of his success. As quartermaster he was ex- 
empt from service in the field, but when his regi- 
ment went into battle Grant divested himself of his 
clerical office and marched and fought at the front. 
Scott began his final attack on Mexico on the 
morning of September 8th by ordering Worth to 
attack Molino del Rey. He made a gallant charge, 
the guns of Chapultepec playing upon his troops as 
they advanced, but, unheeding the iron hail, they en- 
tered the mill by every door, and either captured the 
defenders or drove them in precipitate flight toward 
Chapultepec. Among the first to enter the mill was 
Lieutenant Grant. In passing through the door, he 
noticed Mexicans still on the roof, and seeing no 
stairways or other means of reaching the latter, he 
took a file of men, and placing a cart with the shafts 
uppermost against the walls, he and his force clam- 
bered by means of it to the roof. There he found 
a Mexican major and several other minor officers 
and privates guarded by a single American soldier, 
who had reached the spot in advance of his com- 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 65 

mander and demanded and received their surren- 
der. Batteries were now established, and on the 
morning- of the 12th opened fire on Chapultepec. 
The next morning this strong position was carried 
by two columns of Pillow's brigade of two hundred 
and fifty men each, headed by Captains Samuel 
McKenzie and Silas Casey. 

The advance on the city gates, Belen and San 
Cosme, along the aqueduct roads, was now ordered. 
Worth's division, with which marched the Fourth, 
had the advance on the San Cosme or westernmost 
road, while General Quitman commanded the col- 
umn directed against Belen. Lieutenant Grant was 
in the front rank of skirmishers on the San Cosme 
road; besides himself, there were but three other 
commissioned officers in command of the attack- 
ing force. Sheltering themselves behind the arches 
of the aqueduct and springing from arch to arch, 
the troops met no serious resistance until they 
reached the road running east into the city to the 
San Cosme gate, which road the aqueduct fol- 
lowed. Here they were halted for a time by a gun 
planted in the angle of the road and supported by 
troops on the housetops in the rear. Lieutenant 
Grant, looking about for means to turn this posi- 
tion, saw a house in the southwest angle of the east 
and north roads, the yard of which was inclosed 
by a heavy stone wall abutting on both roads and 
also extending across from one to the other, in- 
closing a kind of triangle. Making a private recon- 
noissance, he saw that under cover of this wall his 
troops might pass the gun in the angle and gain 
the east road beyond it, thus turning the position. 



66 GENERAL GRANT. 

Hastening back, he called for volunteers, and, fol- 
lowed by all within hearing, he pushed forward to- 
ward the east road. About halfway across he came 
upon a body of United States troops under Captain 
Horace Brooks of the artillery, who had come up 
since his reconnoissance under cover of a shallow 
ditch near by. Briefly explaining to Brooks his 
purpose, the latter told him to move on and he 
would follow. He did so and gained the road, the 
result being that the gunners in the angle and those 
on the housetops beat a hasty retreat, the Ameri- 
cans pursuing them with such vigor that another 
parapet halfway to the gate was carried and held 
for a time; but re-enforcements not coming up, 
it was abandoned, to be retaken later with loss. 

A second time during the day the young lieuten- 
ant gave evidence of those powers which later were 
exhibited on wider fields. In the afternoon, as the 
army drew nearer the gates, he was again recon- 
noitering, and discovered a church to the south- 
ward of the road, the steeple of which he judged 
would command the rear of the gate San Cosnie. 
Securing an officer of roltignirs with a mountain 
howitzer and a sufficient number of soldiers to man 
it, he led them across the fields over ditches and 
stiles to the church, and, forcing an entrace, suc- 
ceeded in mounting the howitzer in the steeple, 
whence it soon began to play upon the astounded 
defenders of the San Cosme. The latter might have 
sent a company and captured the gun, which was 
entirely unsupported, but that would have been 
sacrilege. Worth from his position saw the effect 
l)ro(luccd by this coup, and was so pleased that 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. C,'^ 

he sent Pemberton — later in command of Vicks- 
burg against General Grant — to bring the com- 
mander of the gun to him, and on Grant's appear- 
ance thanked him for the service performed, and 
ordered another howitzer, with men to work it, sent 
to the steeple, which, however. Lieutenant Grant 
did not use, as there was not sufficient space in the 
belfry for a second gun. For this exploit the young 
lieutenant received special mention in the reports 
of three officers— General Worth, Colonel Garland, 
and Major Francis Lee, commanding the Fourth 
Infantry, who said that Grant behaved with " dis- 
tinguished gallantry," while Garland, who led the 
brigade, commended the young soldier for " acquit- 
ting himself most nobly on several occasions." For 
this action Grant received the brevet of captain for 
" gallant and meritorious conduct," awarded in 
1849, but not confirmed until 1850. His first lieu- 
tenantcy dated from September, 1847. 

On the night of September 13th the American 
line of battle confronted the Mexican from the 
gate San Cosme to the Belen gate, and an assault 
was imminent. That night, however, Santa Anna 
evacuated the city, first turning loose the convicts 
and other desperadoes to prey upon the invaders. 
Next morning the victorious Americans entered 
and took possession. Worth's command being quar- 
tered in the Alameda, the beautiful park of the city, 
and Quitman's taking possession of the plaza and 
the Capitol, the latter a mass of buildings on the 
east side, in which the Government departments 
were situated, known locally as the Palace, and 
sometimes called in literature the " Halls of the 



68 GENERAL GRANT. 

Montezumas." The convicts which had been re- 
leased by Santa Anna fired upon the Americans as 
they entered, kilhng, among" others, Lieutenant Sid- 
ney Smith, of the Fourth Regiment, by whose death 
our young soldier rose to the grade of first lieuten- 
ant. A little later Scott rode into Mexico in state, 
and 'from the Capitol issued such orders as restored 
tranquillity to the city. 

The campaign in Mexico was ended. Lieuten- 
ant Grant passed through it with honor. As he 
himself said, he was in every battle possible for one 
man to be in. He received special mention in four 
diflferent army reports, and he was one of that small 
band of West Point graduates of whom General 
Scott later said, before a congressional committee, 
" I give it as my fixed opinion that but for our 
graduated cadets the war between the United States 
and Mexico would have lasted four or five years, 
with, in its first half, more defeats than victories 
fallen to our share. ... In less than two campaigns 
we conquered a great country and a peace without 
the loss of a single battle or a skirmish." This 
record should be dwelt upon, because in much that 
has been written of him too great stress has been 
laid on the obscure period of his career from which 
he emerged to become the cynosure of all eyes, 
whereas this sixteen months' campaign rendered 
him the tried soldier and discovered and trained 
those great qualities which were later so signally 
displayed for the salvation of his country. He be- 
lieved the war an unholy one. urged by the pro- 
slavery party to win territory for the creation of 
new slave States, but entered upon it with the re- 



4 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 69 

solve to do his whole duty. Years after, Grant said : 
" I do not think there ever was a more wicked war 
waged than that by the United States on Mexico. 
I thought so at the time, when I was a youngster, 
only I had not moral courage enough to resign." 
It was certainly a war of plunder and extreme in- 
justice. This was the opinion of both Scott and 
Taylor. The war was so essentially in the interest 
of the slaveholding section of the country that it 
was strongly opposed by the free States of the 
North. When, in February, 1847, ^ member of the 
Senate asserted that the Mexicans should welcome 
our army, Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, eloquently re- 
plied, " If I were a Mexican as I am an American, 
I would welcome them with bloody hands to hos- 
pitable graves ! " 

From the field Grant wrote to his father at the 
commencement of the war: " I do not mean you 
shall ever hear of my shirking my duty in battle. 
]\Iy new post of quartermaster is considered to 
afford an ofificer an opportunity to be relieved from 
fighting, but I do not and can not see it in that 
light. You have always taught me that the post of 
danger is the post of duty." After the war Grant 
said to a friend: " It was a mere accident that put 
me in the army. I had not much light in me, and 
did not wish to go to the war. I thought of being 
a teacher or a farmer, and I thought of going to 
sea; but of all possible futures that I dreamed of 
before going to West Point, being a soldier was not 
one of them." 

General Longstreet, in a letter to the author, 
says: " When the army of occupation assembled at 



^o 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Corpus Christi, Tex., in the autumn of 1845, that 
country was wilder and more remote from the civ- 
ilized parts of the globe than the wildest parts of 
the Rocky Mountains of the present day. The 
Government was so strict in the management of its 
finances that it never provided transportation for 
books, and mails were only allowed once or, by 
chance, twice a week. The only change the young 
officers had from the routine of drill and prepara- 
tion for the war anticipated with Mexico was the 
frequent visits at our camps of Indians with mus- 
tang horses just captured from the wild herds of the 
prairies. The price of the animals was from two 
and a half to five dollars. They were ponies usually, 
but occasionally a good-sized animal was brought in. 
" On one occasion, when Grant happened at 
my tent, a fine-sized animal, of rich yellow color, 
w^as brought up. Grant fancied him., paid the high- 
est price, had the blindfold put on, then the bridle 
and saddle. These, with the spurs of the times, were 
of the Mexican style, and when properly adjusted 
nothing could move the saddle or turn it to either 
side. The weight of the horse could be pulled by 
a lariat tied to the saddle. When the horse was 
ready. Grant put on the Mexican spurs, mounted, 
and ordered the blindfold ofif. The frightened ani- 
mal bounded like a bull, threw his head to the 
ground, reared, and leaped. Grant drove in the 
heavy spurs, and the horse ran for the chaparral. 
A free rein was given him and more of the spur, 
and horse and rider disappeared in the brush. No 
anxiety was felt, for Grant was known as an accom- 
plished horseman. In about an hour and a half the 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 



71 



horse and rider returned, both well tired; the horse, 
in a foam, came up in a gentle walk." 

Grant ridiculed the idea that he could be un- 
horsed so long as the animal stood on his feet. He 
asked but one thing of a steed, and that was that 
he should go along. No Mexican vaqnero, Ameri- 
can cowboy, or Bedouin sheik had a firmer seat or 
more resembled a centaur. During the campaign 
he mounted a wild stallion that was saddled for the 
first time. Grant writes: " I had, however, but little 
difficulty in breaking him, although for the first 
day there were frequent disagreements between us 
as to which way we should go, and sometimes as 
to whether we should go at all. At no time during 
the day could I choose exactly the part of the col- 
umn I would march with, but after that I had as 
tractable a horse as any with the army." During 
the occupation of the capital a Mexican gentleman 
with whom Grant was on terms of intimacy re- 
quested the loan of the fiery and spirited stallion. 
Grant said afterward, " I was afraid he could not 
ride the horse, and yet I knew if I said a word to 
that efTect the suspicious Spanish nature would 
think I was unwilling to lend him." The result was 
the unfortunate Mexican mounted the stallion, was 
thrown before he had gone three blocks, and killed 
on the spot. 

Two incidents of Grant's association with the 
Fourth Infantry, and also two of the general's anec- 
dotes of officers connected with the regiment, may 
appropriately conclude this chapter. While drilling 
his company at Jeflferson Barracks, General Garland, 
then in command, approached with some friends, 



72 



GENERAL GRANT. 



and, halting, said, " Where are the rest of your men, 
heutenant?" "Absent, by your leave, sir," answered 
Grant. " That is not true," remarked the general. 
Instantly the young officer ordered the first ser- 
geant to take command of the company, and then, 
placing the point of his sword at Garland's breast, 
said, " Unless you apologize at once for this insult, 
I will run you through." This sobered the general, 
the apology was promptly made, and it is pleasant 
to record that they were ever after friends. 

At Camp Salubrity, where the Fourth was or- 
dered when the yellow fever appeared in New Or- 
leans in May, 1846, the summer was spent agree- 
ably in visiting the planters on the Red River, the 
families of Grand Ecore and Natchitoches, and in 
occasional trips to Fort Jesup, a distance of about 
twenty-five miles, which Grant rode in one instance 
on a wager in less than two hours. Among the 
amusements of the summer the officers of the 
Fourth appeared in the play of Othello for the en- 
tertainment of the many friends from whom hospi- 
talities had been received. The part of the Moor 
was taken by Lieutenant Haslett, while Grant ap- 
peared as Desdemona. One of the few survivors of 
the regiment who was present remembers that the 
heroine's part was well represented, and that many 
of the young Acadians, who had never before seen 
a play, were enthusiastic over the performance. 

When the Fourth was ordered to marcli from 
Corpus Christi, stringent orders were issued by 
General Taylor against overloading the wagons, 
and officers were requested to reduce their baggage 
to the lowest amount possible. The colonel, inspect- 



THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 73 

ing the wagons of his command before starting, dis- 
covered a small bookcase containing a few favor- 
ite volumes belonging to a young officer of literary 
tastes. " That will never do, Mr. Graham. We can 
not encumber our train with such rubbish as books," 
and so they were left behind. The colonel next met 
Adjutant Hoskins, who had just seen the books 
taken out, and who said, in a deprecatory manner, 
that not being well, and requiring a stimulant, he 
had taken the liberty of putting a small keg of 
whisky in the wagon. " Oh, that is all right, Mr. 
Hoskins, anything in reason, but Graham wanted 
to carry books! " 

Grant's other anecdote was of a good-natured, 
careless brother officer, who possessed httle or noth- 
ing of his own, taking, during Lieutenant Graham's 
absence, his fine horse, dog, and gun, and going out 
for a day's shooting. In the course of the day he 
rode the horse down to a slough to drink, the bank 
gave way, a hind leg was caught in the root of a 
tree, and the horse was drowned. The lieutenant 
lost the gun in removing the saddle and bridle, 
which he carried back to camp after a long tramp, 
in the course of which the dog was badly hurt by 
some wild animal. When Graham expostulated 
rather strongly on the loss of his property, which 
had been taken without leave or license, the delin- 
quent, with an aggrieved air, answered, " Well, 
didn't I nearly kill myself carrying your saddle and 
bridle back for six or seven miles?" The general 
found the telling of this little story a somewhat dif- 
ficult achievement, so comical did the circumstances 
always appear to strike him. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 

After the signing- of the treaty of peace with 
Mexico in April, 1848, the Fourth Infantry re- 
turned to the United States, and in the following 
August our hero was married to Miss Julia Dent, 
of St. Louis, a sister of one of his West Point class- 
mates. They became acquainted soon after Grant 
was ordered to Jefferson Barracks, and when the 
young lady of seventeen had just completed her 
course at a fashionable school. The young officer, 
about four years her senior, became a frequent guest 
at her father's house, a few miles west of St. Louis. 
He was then known among the young ladies as the 
" pretty little lieutenant " and the " little blue-eyed 
beauty," possessing, as he did at that time, a clear 
white-and-pink complexion. Before Grant's de- 
parture for Mexico the young soldier was accepted, 
and their marriage occurred soon after the close of 
the war. In September they went to Sackett's Har- 
bor, N, Y., remaining there until the following 
spring, when Grant was ordered to Detroit, Mich., 
where two uneventful years were passed in the mo- 
notonous duties of garrison life in time of peace. 

74 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 75 

He was the quartermaster and commissary of the 
regiment, which was stationed along the Canadian 
frontiers with headquarters at Detroit. Subsequently 
the Fourth was ordered to Sackett's Harbor, and a 
year later to Governor's Island, N. Y., en route for 
the Pacific coast, the discovery of gold in Cali- 
fornia in 1849, s"cl consequent influx of emigrants, 
rendering the presence of additional troops neces- 
sary. In July, 1852, eight companies, under com- 
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Bonneville, embarked 
on the steamer Ohio for Aspinwall, where the troops 
crossed the Isthmus to Panama, and then proceeded 
up the coast by another steamer to San Francisco. 
The transit of the Isthmus entailed great labor 
on Captain Grant, who was again acting as quarter- 
master and commissary. The railroad was then 
completed only to the crossing of the Chagres River. 
From that point the route was by boats up the river 
to Gorgona, and then twenty-five miles on mule- 
back over the mountains to Panama. The regiment, 
except one company, which was left to guard the 
camp equipage, and the soldiers with families, went 
forward by boats to Gorgona, and thence marched 
to Panama. Quartermaster Grant, with the detailed 
company, the women and children, tents, mess 
chests, and camp kettles, was ordered to proceed to 
Cruces, a town farther up the river than Gorgona, 
where transportation in the form of pack mules 
had been provided. On arriving at Cruces, how- 
ever. Grant found that the contractor had not and 
could not procure the necessary mules, the great 
number of gold hunters and large amount of freight 
then pouring across the Isthmus having created 



76 



GENERAL GRANT. 



a great demand for all beasts of burden. To add 
to his embarrassment, cholera appeared among his 
command. To escape it, the detailed company was 
sent on to Panama with the doctors, and Grant was 
left alone with the married soldiers and women and 
children. Meantime he had made a new contract 
with a native at a greatly increased price, and, after 
a week's delay, enough animals were secured to 
transport all to Panama. At Cruces and on the way 
to the coast nearly one third of his command died 
with the cholera. 

Arriving at Panama, they found that the steamer 
would not sail until the pestilence had abated, lest 
once at sea she should become a floating charnel 
house. They were therefore forced to wait amid 
tropical heat and rains several weeks longer. At 
length, the pestilence having measurably abated, the 
steamer proceeded on her way, and reached San 
Francisco without incident early in September. 
Mrs. Grant, having been left behind at her father's 
house in St. Louis with her infant son Frederick, 
escaped these privations. The Fourth found in San 
Francisco a pasteboard city, which had sprung up 
in a day, and was filled with eager adventurers of all 
classes and nationalities. The regiment was quar- 
tered for a time at Benicia Barracks, but was soon 
ordered to Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River, 
in what was then Oregon Territory, Washington 
not having been organized. In these wastes Captain 
Grant remained nearly a year, or until the death 
of General Taylor's son-in-law. Colonel Bliss, of 
the adjutant general's department, July 5, 1853, 
promoted him to the captaincy of a company then 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 77 

Stationed at Humboldt Bay, in California. Thither 
in September of the same year he proceeded via 
San Francisco, and entered upon the duties of his 
new command. 

By the spring of 1854 the enforced idleness and 
isolation of his life at Humboldt had become almost 
unendurable. His family— the latter increased by 
the birth of a second son while he was on the Isth- 
mus — were still at St. Louis, the husband and fa- 
ther being- unable on his slender pay as an army 
ofificer to support them on the Pacific coast, where 
the cost of living at that time was so great that 
his means would have been totally inadequate to 
maintain a household. 

With no war in prospect and little hope of pro- 
motion, Grant determined to resign and return to 
his family in St. Louis. Accordingly, in March, 
1854, after an interview with Colonel Buchanan, he 
sent to the proper authorities an application for 
leave of absence until the July following, and in- 
closed his resignation, to date from the end of that 
month. To a member of the regiment he said 
before his departure, " Whoever hears of me in ten 
years will hear of a well-to-do Western farmer." 
Arriving in San Francisco, Grant was grievously 
disappointed in his expectation of receiving two 
sums of money that were due him, amounting to 
nearly three thousand dollars, which he never suc- 
ceeded in collecting. One of his debtors was ab- 
sent from the city; the other, who later became an 
admiral of our navy, was unable to discharge the 
indebtedness. To the kindness of Lieutenant Buck- 
ner Grant was indebted for a loan of the necessary 



78 GENERAL GRANT. 

amount to enable him to reach his family. This 
sum was promptly repaid with funds advanced by 
a friend in the East. He sailed for New York, and 
reached St. Louis late in August, 1854. 

His career during the next six years proved how 
difficult it was for one of military training to suc- 
ceed in civil life. He began first as a tiller of the 
soil, his wife having a small farm near the city, 
which his father aided him to stock and on which, 
largely with his own labor, he built a house. Be- 
tween the intervals of farm work he carried wood 
to the St. Louis market. He might have suc- 
ceeded in time, but his old enemy, the fever and 
ague, which had troubled him while a youth in 
Ohio, seized him again, and in 1858 forced him 
to remove from the farm. His next venture was 
a partnership in the real-estate business in St. Louis 
with a cousin of Mrs. Grant. At the same time he 
became a candidate for the lucrative office of county 
engineer, but failed to secure it, his rival being a 
citizen of the county, while he was not. His real- 
estate business did not prove immediately profitable, 
and, as he must have present support for his fam- 
ily, he soon relinquished it to his partner, and ac- 
cepted a nominal clerkship in the leather house 
which his father had established, and which his 
two younger brothers were now conducting in Ga- 
lena, 111. In a letter addressed to the author, dated 
Covington, Ky., March 20, 1868, the elder Grant 
writes: "After Ulysses's farming and real-estate 
experiments failed to be self-supporting, he came 
to me at this place for advice and assistance. I re- 
ferred him to Simpson, my next oldest son, who 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 



79 



had charge of my Galena business, and who was 
staying with me at that time on account of poor 
heakh. Simpson sent him to the Galena store to 
stay until something better should turn up in his 
favor, and told him he would be allowed a salary of 
eight hundred dollars per annum. . . . That amount 
would have supported his family then, but he owed 
debts at St. Louis, and did draw fifteen hundred dol- 
lars in the year, but he soon paid back the balance 
after he went into the army." 

As an army officer he had never voted, and had 
taken little interest in politics. His first vote for 
President had been cast for James Buchanan in 
1856, not so much because he admired the man 
or favored the principles of his party, but because 
he had no confidence in the capacity of Colonel 
Fremont, and he saw clearly that the election of 
the Republican candidate meant the secession of all 
the slave States, v/hereas if a Democrat were elected 
the South could have no pretext for seceding, and 
four years more of peace would be assured, in which 
time he hoped the passions of men would have 
cooled and reason have resumed her sway. At the 
presidential election of i860, he had not gained a 
residence in Illinois, and could not vote, but his 
sympathies were with the Republican party. He 
took no part in the presidential campaign except 
to teach the Republican organization — the Wide 
Awakes — how to drill in their rooms. Abraham 
Lincoln was elected in November, i860, and, with- 
out further provocation, the Southern States, soon 
after his inauguration, seized the national property, 
fired upon the flag, and declared themselves out of 



8o GENERAL GRANT. 

the Union. It was evident that the time for patri- 
ots to draw the sword had come. Grant's oppor- 
tunity had at last arrived. 

For some weeks, in the stir and bustle of war- 
like preparations — " the mighty and puissant nation, 
rousing itself like a strong man from sleep " — the un- 
demonstrative clerk in the leather store at Galena 
was overlooked. He was not in politics, and politics 
had much to do with the organization of the army 
in 1 86 1. He was not the man to obtrude his merits 
or army record upon those in authority, and the 
many who did were preferred to him. At the age 
of thirty-nine Grant was, as has been seen, an ob- 
scure man, whose career his best friend would have 
been compelled to confess was a conspicuous fail- 
ure. The man would himself have honestly in- 
dorsed that opinion. He had tried many things 
and succeeded in none. Few lives were more un- 
eventful, secluded, and even obscure until he had 
passed the period when Burns and Byron died, and 
the age when Wolfe and McPherson fell gloriously 
at Quebec and Atlanta. Like Moltke before Sadowa, 
Grant was unknown to his contemporaries until 
the world rang with his fame so fairly won at Fort 
Donelson and on the heights of \'icksburg. Within 
four years he emerged from the obscurity of a 
Mississippi town to a proud position among the 
most celebrated commanders of the century, cer- 
tainly not surpassed by any living soldier, control- 
ling larger armies than Xapoleon commanded in 
the days of his greatest glory. Within another dec- 
ade the man of whom we write was twice chosen 
chief of our republic, and a few years later, in his 



i 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 8 1 

tour around the world, the welcome guest of the 
greatest of the earth, receiving from them such 
honors as were never before or since extended to 
an American. Then came the sad end, and such a 
public funeral in the nation's chief city as had never 
been seen in the New World. Nearly twelve years 
later, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth, the 
great commander's honored remains were removed 
with imposing ceremonial, in the presence of the 
President of the republic, and placed in a magnificent 
tomb, unequaled by any ever erected for a soldier. 
No novelist would dream of inventing such a marvel- 
ous story. It would seem too improbable even for the 
pages of fiction. History supplies few, if any, exam- 
ples of equally sudden, brilliant, and enduring fame. 

Grant saw clearly the great question at issue 
between the North and the South, and his one idea, 
like Lincoln's, was to save the Union. His stead- 
fast soul clung to that thought with a grim tenacity 
that could be expressed only in some such words 
as St. Paul's when he said. " This one thing I do." 
Within four years nearly half a million of men slept in 
their graves that the Union might be preserved and 
the nation freed from the curse of slavery. No man 
contributed more to that mighty achievement than the 
modest clerk of Galena, of whose existence even the 
member of Congress from that district was entirely 
ignorant the April day our flag fell at Fort Sumter. 

Lincoln issued his call for seventy-five thousand 
volunteers on April 15th, two days after the fall of 
Fort Sumter-. " The proclamation," says Mr.Blaine, 
" was responded to in the loyal States with an un- 
paralleled burst of enthusiasm. On the day of its 



82 GENERAL GRANT. 

issue hundreds of public meetings were held from 
the eastern border of Maine to the extreme Western 
frontier. Work was suspended on farm and in fac- 
tory, and the whole people were aroused to patriotic 
ardor, and to a determination to subdue the re- 
bellion and restore the Union whatever might be 
the expenditure of treasure or the sacrifice of life." 
When news of the President's call for troops reached 
Galena, a public meeting was held, and a second im- 
mediately followed, over which Captain Grant was 
chosen to preside. He briefly and with some em- 
barrassment stated the objects of their being assem- 
bled together on that evening, and said, " I am in 
for the war and shall stay until this wicked rebellion 
is crushed at the cannon's mouth." Patriotic ad- 
dresses followed by Elihu B. Washburne and John A. 
Rawlins, a well-known Democratic lawyer of Galena. 
A company was raised in part at this second 
meeting, the command of which when completed 
was tendered Grant, but he declined, with the hope 
of receiving the colonelcy of an Illinois regiment, 
or a similar position in the United States army, 
which he greatly preferred. Grant, however, con- 
sented to take charge of the company, called the 
Jo Daviess Guards, and instruct it how to drill; he 
even accompanied it in this capacity to Springfield, 
the capital of the State. Richard Yates was then 
Governor of Illinois, a man of sterling integrity, 
a statesman and orator, who was a fit colleague for 
Andrews, of Massachusetts, Buckingham, of Con- 
necticut, Morgan, of New York, Curtin, of Penn- 
sylvania, Morton, of Indiana, and other " war gov- 
ernors " who might be named. 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 83 

Yates's fiber was shown by his reply to a con- 
stituent who had written to know what he should 
do if his disloyal neighbor pulled down the Ameri- 
can flag — " Shoot him as you would a dog, and I 
will pardon you for the ofifense! " replied Yates. 
Grant was introduced by letter to Governor Yates 
by Elihu B. Washburne, representative from the Ga- 
lena district, as a West Point graduate and a veteran 
of the Mexican War. The Governor said, " Do you 
know how many men it takes to make a company, 
and how many to make a regiment, and what of- 
ficers each must have? " *' Perfectly," replied Grant. 
" Well." said the Governor, " I want you to take 
a chair in my office and assist the adjutant general 
of the State." Captain Grant remained in this 
subordinate capacity several weeks, mustering in 
most of the sixteen regiments which formed the 
States's quota. 

While thus engaged he visited his family at 
Covington, Ky., for a few days. In the interim a 
townsman of Grant's called upon the Governor, and 
the latter in the course of the interview said: 
" What kind of a man is this Grant? He has been 
educated at West Point, and says he wants to go 
into the army. Several regiments have offered to 
elect him colonel, but he says ' No/ and declines to 
be a candidate. What does he want?" "Grant 
has only served in the regular army, where they 
have no elections, officers being promoted accord- 
ing to seniority," replied the friend. " Whatever 
place you have for him, appoint the captain without 
consulting him, and you will find he will accept 
any position to which he is assigned." 



84 GENERAL GRANT. 

Acting- on this suggestion, the Governor com- 
missioned him colonel of the Twenty-first IlHnois 
Volunteers. Grant had desired a commission in the 
regular army. Previous to this, while at home in 
Galena for a short visit, he had written to Adjutant- 
General Thomas at Washington, saying that, having 
had fifteen years' service in the army, including four 
years at the Military Academy, he felt competent, in 
view of his present age and length of service, to com- 
mand a regiment if the President in his judgment 
should see fit to intrust one to him. He hesitated 
to suggest rank as high as a colonelcy, he wrote 
after the war, having some doubt as to whether 
he was equal to the position, but, having seen most 
of the colonels who had been mustered in from the 
States of Illinois and Indiana, he thought that if 
they could command a regiment properly he could, 
and so made the application.* No reply was ever 



* Galena, III., .Vay 24, 1861. 
Sir : Having served for fifteen years in the regular army, in- 
cluding four years at West Point, and feeling it the duty of every 
one who has been educated at the Government expense to offer 
their services for the support of that Government, I have the hon- 
or very respectfully to tender my services until the close of the war 
in such capacity as may be offered. I would say, in view of my 
present age and length of service, I feel myself competent to com- 
mand a regiment if the President in his judgment should see fit 
to intrust one to me. Since the first call of the President I have 
been serving on the staff of the Governor of this State, rendering 
such aid as I could in the organization of our State militia, and 
am still engaged in that capacity. A letter addressed to me at 
Springfield, 111., will reach me. I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient ser\'ant, 

U. S. Grant. 

Colonel L. Thomas, Adjutant General U. S. A., Was/ihigton D. C. 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 85 

received to it, and none was written. Long after 
the war General E. D. Townsend, who had become 
adjutant general, while packing papers preparatory 
to a removal of his office in Washington, discovered 
the letter in an out-of-the-way place. It had never 
been seen by Lincoln or by the Secretary of War, 
Simon Cameron, perhaps not even by General 
Thomas. Grant now accepted the commission from 
Governor Yates, and proceeded to ]\Iattoon, where 
the Twenty-first had been mustered in, to take com- 
mand. It was suggested that John A. Logan and 
others should make speeches on the occasion of 
Grant assuming the colonelcy. The programme 
was carried out, w'hen there were loud calls for 
Colonel Grant. He stepped forward and made an 
effective speech of four words, " Go to your quar- 
ters ! " Yates was subsequently very proud of this 
act, and claimed to have been the first to " dis- 
cover " General Grant. " God gave him to his coun- 
try," said he on one occasion, " and I signed his 
first commission." Then, lifting his right hand to 
heaven, he exclaimed, " And it was the most glori- 
ous day of my life wdien these fingers signed that 
commission ! " Mr. Washburne, by whose influence 
Grant was later commissioned brigadier general of 
volunteers by President Lincoln, was a rival claim- 
ant for the honor of discovering him. 

Before receiving his commission as colonel, bear- 
ing date Jnne 15, 1861, Grant went to Cincinnati 
to visit Major-General McClellan, then in command 
of Ohio troops, who had shared his quarters for 
three months at Fort Vancouver. The two had 
served together in Mexico, and, although Grant 



86 GENERAL GRANT. 

had no intention of making an application for a 
position on his staff, he still hoped that McClellan 
might offer him one. He went twice to headquar- 
ters, but did not see the general, who was absent in 
Washington, and returned to Illinois without men- 
tioning his aspirations to any one. Grant had also 
applied unsuccessfully to Captain Lyon and Colonel 
Blair in St. Louis, and to Governor Morton, of In- 
diana, who told him that the State's quota of six 
regiments were all officered. When his commission 
was handed to him by Governor Yates, he immedi- 
ately accepted it and at once entered upon the dis- 
charge of his duties. Removing the regiment from 
their place of organization, Mattoon, to Caseyville, 
he superintended their drill, improved their disci- 
pline, and not long after he marched his men, in de- 
fault of railroad transportation, one hundred and 
twenty miles to Quincy, on the Mississippi, which 
was supposed to be in danger. Thence he moved 
under orders to defend the line of the Hannibal and 
St. Joseph's Railroad in Missouri, and here, coming 
into contact with other regiments commanded by 
volunteer officers, his military education and experi- 
ence pointed to him, although the youngest colonel 
of the combined forces, as acting brigadier general 
of this force; his headquarters on July 31st were at 
Mexico, about fifty miles north of the Missouri 
River. On August 7th he was commissioned by the 
President brigadier general of volunteers, to date 
from May 17th, his first knowledge of his promo- 
tion coming to him from the newspapers of the 
day. As one of the few regular officers among 
the Illinois troo]js, his name had been suggested to 



THE BATTLE OF BEI.MONT. 



87 



Mr. Lincoln by Washburne for a brigadier general- 
ship, and the recommendation was unanimously 
concurred in by all the other members of Congress 
from Illinois. He was seventeenth in a list of thirty- 
four original appointments of that date. 

Grant at this time was thirty-nine years of age, 
below the medium height, with a countenance in- 
dicative of reserve and indomitable will. He was 
careless in dress, but a strict disciplinarian, as illus- 
trated by the following incident narrated by Chap- 
lain Crane of his regiment. " I was walking," he 
says, " over the camp with him one morning after 
breakfast; it was usual for each company to call 
the roll at a given hour; it was now probably a half 
hour after the time for that duty. The colonel was 
quietly smoking his old meerschaum and talking 
and walking along when he noticed a company 
drawn up in line and the roll being called. He in- 
stantly drew his pipe from his mouth and exclaimed, 
* Captain, this is no time for calling the roll ; order 
your men to their quarters immediately.' The com- 
mand was instantly obeyed, and the colonel re- 
sumed his smoking, and walked on, conversing as 
quietly as if nothing had happened. For this vio- 
lation of discipline those men went without rations 
that day, except what they gathered up privately 
from among their friends of other companies. Such 
a breach of order was never witnessed in the regi- 
ment afterward while he was its colonel. This 
promptness is one of Grant's characteristics, and it 
is one of the secrets of his success." 

Some of his punishments were pecul'ar but effec- 
tive. The chaplain continues: "On one of our 
7 



88 GENERAL GRANT. 

marches, when passing through one of those small 
towns where the grocery is the principal establish- 
ment, some of the lovers of intoxication had broken 
away from our lines and filled their canteens with 
whisky, and were soon reeling and ungovernable 
under its influence. While apparently stopping the 
regiment for rest, Grant passed quietly along and 
took each canteen, and wherever he detected the 
fatal odor emptied the liquor on the ground with as 
much nonchalance as he would empty his pipe, and 
had the offenders tied behind the baggage w^agons 
until they had sobered into soldierly propriety. On 
this point his orders were imperative; no whisky 
or intoxicating beverages were allowed in his camp." 

Having been promoted, as we have seen. Grant's 
connection with the Twenty-first Regiment ceased 
after he had held command for about two months. 
The colonel's account of his service with it con- 
cludes as follows: " We did make one march, how- 
ever, from Salt River, Mo., to Florida, Mo., in 
search of Tom Harris, who was reported to be in 
that neighborhood with a handful of rebels. From 
Salt River the regiment went to Mexico, Mo., where 
it remained for two weeks, thence to Ironton, pass- 
ing through St. Louis on the 7th of August, where 
I \yas assigned to duty as a brigadier general, and 
turned over the command of the regiment to that 
gallant Christian officer, Colonel Alexander, who 
yielded up his life while nobly leading it in the battle 
of Cliickamauga." 

After serving under Pope in what was known 
as the " District of Northern Missouri," and being 
stationed at Ironton and Jefferson City, occupied 




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THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 



89 



in watching the movements of partisan forces of 
Confederates under General JefT. Thompson, Grant 
was on September ist assigned by General Fre- 
mont, commanding the Western Department, to the 
command of the District of Southeast Missouri, and 
on the 4th made his headquarters at Cairo, situated 
at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. 
The district included not only the region from which 
it takes its name, but the southern part of Illinois, 
and so much of Kentucky and Tennessee as might 
fall into the possession of national forces, and com- 
prised the junction of Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio, 
and Mississippi Rivers. A glance at the map dis- 
closes the strategetic importance of Cairo, as a base 
of operations for a Southern advance, and of vital 
importance in the line of defense for the rich and 
extensive area of country lying between the Ohio 
and Mississippi. It was also of great value as an 
inland naval depot, as a point for fitting out river 
expeditions, and for the transportation of supplies. 
In connection with his new assignment, Mont- 
gomery Blair, Postmaster General under Lincoln, 
made a statement after the war, bringing together 
for the first time the names of the war President 
and General Grant. Said Mr. Blair: '' One day, in 
Cabinet meeting, Lincoln turned to the Secretary 
of War and asked, ' Did we not receive a communi- 
cation some time last spring from a man named 
Grant, out at Springfield, forwarded by Governor 
Yates, laying out a plan of campaign down the 
Mississippi?' The Secretary replied that he be- 
lieved such a paper had been received. The Presi- 
dent requested him to have it looked up, which was 



90 



GENERAL GRANT. 



done, and it was read in Cabinet meeting. It made 
a strong impression on all its members, Lincoln re- 
marking that at the time it was received it had im- 
pressed him favorably, but in the multiplicity of 
cares it had been forgotten till now, when he had 
received a communication from Representative 
Washburne calling attention to General Grant, and 
suggesting that he be sent to Cairo. Lincoln then 
said, ' Mr. Secretary, send an order to General Fre- 
mont to put Grant in command of the District of 
Southeast Missouri.' " 

At the time that General Grant was transferred 
from Missouri to the post of Cairo the State of 
Kentucky was endeavoring to maintain a neutral 
position — a neutrality never recognized by the 
United States authority. The Confederates under 
General Polk were the first to cross the Kentucky 
line, taking possession of Columbus and Hickman 
on the Mississippi, and Bowling Green on the Green 
River, all of which places they fortified, also forti- 
fying the Tennessee at Fort Henry and the Cum- 
berland at Fort Donelson. Grant w^as not slow to 
follow their example. Fremont had ordered a move- 
ment in Missouri, which he was to superintend, and 
had directed the construction of Fort Holt, when 
Grant, learning of the advance of Polk, at once 
notified his commanding officer, and later in the 
day, having received additional information, he tele- 
graphed to Fremont, at St. Louis, " I am getting 
ready to go to Paducah ; will start at six and a half 
o'clock." Still later on September 5th, he wrote, 
" I am now nearly ready for Paducah, should not 
telegram arrive preventing the movement." Re- 



J 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 



91 



ceiving no reply, Grant started at half-past ten that 
night, with two regiments and a light battery, to- 
gether with two gunboats — the naval force at Cairo 
being under his control — arriving there early the 
following morning, and taking possession of the 
town without firing a gun, the Confederates under 
General Tilghman hurrying out of town by rail- 
road while the Union forces w^ere landing. Grant 
w-as just in time to obtain possession of this valuable 
position, a large force of several thousand of the 
enemy being within a few hours' march of Padu- 
cah. After issuing a proclamation to the inhab- 
itants, informing them of his reasons for taking pos- 
session of the town, and that he was prepared to 
defend the citizens against the enemy, adding sig- 
nificantly that he had nothing to do with opinions, 
but should deal only with armed rebellion, its aiders 
and abettors, he returned to Cairo. On his arrival 
at his headquarters. Grant found a dispatch from 
Fremont, giving his permission that the movement 
against Paducah should be made " if he felt strong 
enough." Soon after the capture of Paducah, Smith- 
land, near the mouth of the Cumberland, was occu- 
pied by Grant's forces, two points of vital impor- 
tance to the enemy as a gateway of supplies and as 
controlling the mouths of the Tennessee and Cum- 
berland Rivers. 

When Grant was assigned to the command of 
the District of Southeast Missouri, General McClcr- 
nand's brigade with other troops were added to his 
force, until by the end of October his command 
amounted to nearly twenty thousand men. As early 
as September loth he suggested the feasibility of 



92 



GENERAL GRANT. 



capturing Columbus, an important position on the 
Mississippi, about twenty miles below Cairo, stat- 
ing to General Fremont that, " if it was discretion- 
ary with me, with a little addition to my present 
force, I would take Columbus." No notice was 
taken of this application, and, being kept strictly 
subordinate to the commander of the Western De- 
partment, he was compelled to confine himself to 
drilling and disciplining his troops and making 
reconnoissances. Belmont, on the west side of the 
Mississippi, a small post, fortified only by a rude 
sort of abatis, and lying directly under the guns of 
Columbus, was destined to be the scene of the first 
conflict of importance in the West. The Confeder- 
ates were constantly sending supplies and men from 
Belmont to Columbus, until at length it became one 
of the strongest works on the river, completely bar- 
ring the navigation of the Mississippi, and a con- 
stant menace to every point of Grant's command. 
Fremont, under date November ist, directed 
Grant to make demonstrations on both sides of the 
river toward Charleston, Norfolk, and Blandville, 
points a few miles north of Columbus. He was not, 
however, to make any attack on the enemy. On 
the 2d the commanding general telegraphed him 
that three thousand rebels were in Missouri, about 
fifty miles southeast of Cairo, and ordered him to 
send a force to assist in turning them into Arkan- 
sas. In accordance with these instructions, Grant 
sent Colonel Richard Oglesby. on the night of the 
3d, with the Eighth, Eleventh, Eighteenth, Twenty- 
ninth Illinois, and three squadrons of cavalry from 
Commerce, Mo., toward Indian Ford, on the St, 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 



93 



Francis River. On the 5th, Grant received a dis- 
patcii from Fremont that Polk, who was in com- 
mand at Columbus, was re-enforcing General Price 
in southwestern Missouri, and, as he (Fremont) 
was at the time confronting the Confederate gen- 
eral, it was of vital importance that these re-enforce- 
ments should cease by a demonstration being made 
against Columbus and Belmont. Oglesby was at 
once ordered to deflect to New Madrid, below 
Columbus, and Colonel Wallace sent to re-enforce 
him. General Charles F. Smith was also instructed 
to move out from Paducah toward the rear of Co- 
lumbus, and " to keep the enemy from throwing 
over the river much more force than they now have 
there " — Grant informing him that " the principal 
point to gain is to prevent the enemy from sending 
a force to fall in the rear of those now sent out from 
their command." Two other smaller demonstra- 
tions were made from Bird's Point and Fort Holt 
for the purpose of deceiving the enemy. 

On the evening of November 6th General 
Grant embarked his expeditionary force, consist- 
ing of thirty-one hundred and fourteen men, chiefly 
Illinoisians, on transports at Cairo, and, accom- 
panied by two gunboats, dropped down the river 
about ten miles, and made a feint of landing on 
the Kentucky shore. The Union force consisted 
of five regiments of infantry, two squadrons of cav- 
alry, and a section of artillery, the men composing 
the command, with the exception of a few veterans 
of the Mexican War, never having been under fire, 
and to some portion of the infantry arms had only 
been distributed two davs before. McClernand was 



94 



GENERAL GRANT. 



the only general officer who accompanied the expe- 
dition, and he had had no positive experience in 
battle. Grant learned during the night of the 6th 
that General Polk was crossing large bodies of 
troops from Columbus to Belmont, with a view to 
cutting off Oglesby, and at once determined to con- 
vert the demonstration into an attack, as it was 
necessary to prevent a movement against the troops 
under Oglesby, as well as preventing re-enforce- 
ments being sent to Price's army. Grant had no 
intention of remaining at Belmont, which is on low 
ground, and could not have been held under the 
guns of Columbus, his object being simply to de- 
stroy the camp, capture or disperse the enemy, and 
return to Cairo before Polk could intercept him. 
At six o'clock the expedition crossed the river 
and debarked at Hunter's Point, three miles above 
Belmont, and just out of range of the enemy's bat- 
teries at Columbus. Leaving a battalion as a re- 
serve near the transports, the troops marched by 
flank toward Belmont, where the Confederates had 
pitched their camp, in an open field, protected by 
fallen timber, and halted when two miles distant. 
Deploying his whole force as skirmishers, the at- 
tack began, and by nine o'clock our troops were 
hotly engaged driving the enemy back from field 
to field, and from tree to tree — a battle of the Wil- 
derness on a small scale — until he reached his camp, 
protected by slashed timber as an abatis. Even this 
could not arrest the progress of our victorious 
troops, who had been fighting for four hours, and, 
with a wild hurrah, they charged over and through 
the fallen tim1:)cr, capturing the camp, several hun- 



J 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 



95 



dred prisoners and all the artillery, and driving the 
enemy to the river bank and to their transports. 
Grant, who was constantly in the front, now ordered 
the destruction of the encampment, burning tents, 
blankets, and stores; after which the troops with the 
prisoners and captured guns, were ordered back to 
the transports, the object of the expedition having 
been accomplished. In the meantime re-enforcements 
had been sent over from Columbus, and, landing 
above Belmont, now confronted our troops on their 
march to Hunter's Point. A cry was now raised, 
" We are surrounded," accompanied by some con- 
fusion, and a young staff officer in an excited man- 
ner imparted the information to his chief. " Well," 
said he, " if that is so, we must fight our way out as 
we cut our way in," and it was gallantly done, the 
enemy disappearing a second time over the banks. 
As, however, re-enforcements were constantly cross- 
ing from Columbus, Grant could not halt to en- 
gage the enemy, but was compelled to hasten for- 
ward to his transports. 

At five in the afternoon our forces had re-em- 
barked, and, protected by the gunboats, which 
poured in grape and canister on the pursuing Con- 
federates, returned to Cairo. We had eighty-five 
killed, three hundred wounded, and about one hun- 
dred missing, while their loss was much greater, 
numbering in all six hundred and forty-two. Both 
parties claimed a victory at Belmont, a battle in- 
significant compared with the later engagements of 
the war, but possessing, says Dr. Coppee, an im- 
portance peculiarly its own. 

I. It was a coup d'essai of our new general. While 



96 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Others of his rank were playing quite subordinate 
parts in large armies, Grant was making an inde- 
pendent expedition in command, outwitting the 
enemy, burning his camp, retreating successfully 
when overpowered, and effecting his purpose in a 
most soldierly manner. II. Again, it was a trial of 
our new troops in the West, and they acquitted 
themselves so as to elicit the hearty praise of their 
commander and the country. They fought well in 
the attack, from colonels to privates, in the retreat, 
and in cutting their way through Cheatham's force, 
and were never for a moment discouraged. III. 
The object of the expedition — to prevent the enemy 
from sending a force to Missouri, to cut off our de- 
tachments which were pressing Thompson, and 
prevent his re-enforcing Price — w'ere fully accom- 
plished. Grant had given him a blow which kept 
him concentrated, lest another might soon follow. 
IV. It demonstrated the weakness of the enemy. 
It led to the victories of Forts Henry and Donelson, 
and the piercing of the Confederates' line, which 
threw it back almost to the Gulf. 

The general, on the return of the expedition to 
Cairo, issued an address containing the following 
allusion to the part he took in the Mexican cam- 
paign, the only reference that we recall ever made 
by' Grant in any of his many official papers, 
with the single exception of his letter to General 
Thomas, which appears on a previous page: "The 
general commanding this military district re- 
turns his thanks to the troops under his command 
at the liattle of Delmont yesterday. It lias been his 
fortune to have been in all the battles fought in 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 



97 



Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save Buena 
Vista, and he never saw one more hotly contested 
or where troops behaved with more gallantry." But, 
in conversation with intimate friends, Grant not in- 
frequently alluded to the advantage his Mexican 
experiences had proved to him during the civil war. 
In his Personal Memoirs he refers to the great value 
to him of Taylor's and Scott's campaigns in Mexico, 
and particularly to the knowledge gained of the 
character of the men with and against whom he 
contended for four years. 

It is but simple justice to Grant to add that the 
admirable conduct of the little army was stimulated 
by his presence and inspired by his example. When 
he arrived at the landing at the close of the battle, 
he was the only man of our army between the Con- 
federate forces and the Union transports and gun- 
boats. It was a high bank, but his intelligent horse 
Jack took in the situation, slid down the difficult 
descent on his haunches, trotted single over the 
gangplank, and both man and beast reached the 
steamer in safety. The general had a horse killed 
under him in the engagement, and his groom was 
captured. An exchange was proposed by General 
Polk of Grant's servant for a colored cook belong- 
ing to a Confederate colonel, but the Union com- 
mander replied that he had no authority to exchange 
a black man, who, however, could return if he so 
desired. He did not, but Grant's groom was never- 
theless courteously sent back by the ex-bishop. To 
the circumstance that the general that day wore the 
ordinary blue army overcoat used by our privates 
he owed his life. A Confederate officer said to his 



gS GENERAL GRANT. 

sharpshooters, " There's a Yankee, if you want to 
try your aim." But his men were all busy firing at 
the crowded transports, and deemed the solitary 
soldier unworthy of notice. The general immedi- 
ately entered the captain's room and lay down on a 
sofa, but did not keep the position a moment, going 
out on deck to observe what was going on. He had 
scarcely left when a musket ball struck the head 
of the sofa, passing through it and lodging in the 
foot, so that Grant had a second narrow escape that 
day. 

Soon after the close of the war, in a conversation 
with the present biographer, General Grant said: 
" I was certainly alarmed at Belmont when I learned 
that our forces were in danger of being cut ofif from 
the transports, but when a little later I heard that 
the enemy were equally frightened, I made up my 
mind that it should never happen again, and it never 
did. I then and there decided that the best way to 
beat the enemy was not to be afraid of him. Nei- 
ther at Shiloh, at \'icksburg, at Chattanooga, nor 
in the Wilderness did the enemy succeed in fright- 
ening me a second time." Writing nearly nineteen 
years after the above conversation, our hero stated, 
in his Personal Memoirs, that the circumstance oc- 
curred several months before the battle of Belmont, 
on the occasion of his being ordered to move against 
Colonel Thomas Harris near the little town of Flor- 
ida, in Missouri. He felt much alarmed on ap- 
proaching the locality where he expected to meet 
the enemy, and was greatly relieved to find the 
troops gone. The general says: " It occurred to 
me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of 



THE BATTLE AT BELMONT. 



99 



me as I had been of him. This was a view of the 
question I had never taken before, but it was one 
that I never forgot afterward. From that event 
to the close of the war I never experienced trepida- 
tion upon confronting an enemy, though I ahvays 
felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he 
had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his.'' 
It is immaterial whether the Union commander 
learned the valuable lesson in July or, four months 
later, in his first battle of the civil war at Belmont, 
for the fact that it was acquired early in the war is 
well illustrated by General Sherman's characteristic 
statement, " I was afraid as death of what was be- 
hind the hill, while Grant did not care a damn ! " 



CHAPTER V. 

FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 

On November 9, 1861, Fremont was removed 
and Henry W. Halleck (181 5-72), second on the list 
of major generals of the regular army, was appointed 
his successor in the command of the Department of 
Missouri. He had been an oflficer of engineers, a dili- 
gent military student, and a writer on military sub- 
jects, but had resigned and entered upon the prac- 
tice of law in California. Immediately upon assum- 
ing command, he divided the department into dis- 
tricts, of which Cairo was the most important. It 
was enlarged, so as to include all the southern part 
of Illinois, all of Kentucky west of the Cumberland 
River, and the southern counties of Missouri. Gen- 
eral Grant was made commander of the new district. 
Large numbers of newly mustered troops from 
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan 
poured into this district, some for service within 
its limits, others intended to re-enforce the Union 
armies in other localities. Grant maintained a vig- 
ilant supervision over them, and whenever it was 
possible inproved their discipline, organization, and 
training before sending them to the various points 
where their services were required. 



i 



FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED, iqi 

Before describing the campaign against Forts 
Henry and Donelson it may be well to glance for 
a moment at the position of the enemy against 
whom Grant was to act. Columbus, the left of the 
well-selected Confederate line, extending from the 
Mississippi to the Big Barren River in middle Ken- 
tucky, was called the Gibraltar of America, and its 
heavy batteries of one hundred and forty guns 
swept the great river above and below; on the 
right was Bowling Green, naturally well adapted 
to defense, and of strategic importance as being the 
junction of the Louisville and Nashville and the 
Memphis and Ohio Railroads, and the northernmost 
point then held by them west of the Alleghanies. 
Here the enemy had concentrated one of their best 
appointed armies, protecting Nashville and threat- 
ening northern Kentucky. Midway between Bowl- 
ing Green and Columbus, and forming important 
lines in the strategic problem, flowed the Cumber- 
land and Tennessee Rivers. About fifty miles south 
of the Ohio these two streams, running nearly paral- 
lel, approach within eleven miles of each other, and 
here, at a bend in each river, the Confederates had 
erected strong works to bar the passage of Union 
troops into the very heart of the Confederacy. Fort 
Henry, on the eastern bank of the Tennessee, and 
Fort Donelson, on the western bank of the Cumber- 
land, were connected by a good road and telegraph 
line. The former mounted seventeen guns and had 
barracks and quarters for fifteen thousand men; the 
latter mounted about forty guns, and contained, 
when the battle occurred, twenty thousand troops. 
As the naval forces bore an important part in 



I02 GENERAL GRANT. 

the military operations at the West, we must briefly 
describe the novel gunboats, known as " turtles," 
introduced on the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cum- 
berland Rivers at this early period of the war, and 
which, for a time, created consternation in the ranks 
of the enemy. They were improvised out of the 
river steamers, and, being sheathed with iron, were 
rendered almost impervious to the heaviest artil- 
lery. Armed as completely as Cceur de Lion's cav- 
aliers, these dark monsters penetrated the rivers, in- 
spiring terror everywhere, and were of the greatest 
service in co-operating with the army. They were 
navigated by experienced pilots, and commanded 
by ofificers of the regular navy. Sharing in direct 
assaults, driving guerrillas back from the river 
banks, convoying transports, carrying troops and 
stores, and covering the movements of troops — 
these strange ironclad monsters, with the later in- 
vented monitors, all under the control of General 
Halleck, contributed greatly to the successes gained 
on many battlefields in the Mississippi \'alley. 

Early in January, 1862, in accordance with or- 
ders received. Grant moved a force of six thousand 
men from Cairo and Bird's Point toward Mayfield 
and Murray, in West Kentucky; he also sent out 
two brigades from Paducah, threatening Colum- 
bus, and the line between the " Western Gibraltar " 
and P>owling Green. The troops were out for more 
than a week, and suffered greatly from cold. There 
was no fighting done, but the objects of the demon- 
stration were fully accomplished, for during its con- 
tinuance Confederate troops were prevented from 
re-enforcing the army which General Thomas de- 



J 



FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED, 103 

feated, at Mill Springs, Ky. On the return of the 
Paducah expedition, its commander, General Smith, 
reported that Fort Henry could easily be captured 
if attacked by three or four of the turtle ironclads 
and a strong co-operating land force. Having been 
granted permission to visit department headquar- 
ters at St. Louis, Grant proceeded there with the ob- 
ject of obtaining Halleck's consent to attack Forts 
Henry and Donelson, but returned without having 
obtained the desired permission. Badeau says, 
" Halleck silenced him so quickly that Grant said 
no more on the subject, and went back to Cairo 
with the idea that his commander thought him guilty 
of a great military blunder." 

On the 28th of the same month, Grant's mind 
still being intent upon the capture of the forts on 
the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, telegraphed 
to Halleck at St. Louis, " With permission I will 
take and hold Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, and 
establish and hold a large camp there," and on the 
day following wrote: "In view of the large force 
now concentrating in this district, and the present 
feasibility of the plan, I would respectfully suggest 
the propriety of subduing Fort Henry, near the 
Kentucky and Tennessee line, and holding the posi- 
tion. If this is not done soon, there is but little 
doubt that the defenses on both the Tennessee and 
Cumberland Rivers will be materially strengthened. 
From Fort Henry it will be easy to operate, either 
on the Cumberland (only twelve miles distant), 
Memphis, or Columbus. It will, besides, have a 
moral effect upon our troops to advance thence to- 
ward the rebel States. The advantages of this move 



104 



GENERAL GRANT. 



are as perceptible to the general commanding as to 
myself, therefore further statements are unneces- 
sary." Commodore Foote, commanding the naval 
forces on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, also 
wrote to Halleck, recommending the movement; 
and at length, on the 30th inst., that officer gave 
the desired permission, accompanied by instruc- 
tions. On the morning of Monday, February 2d, 
a force of seventeen thousand men on transports, 
convoyed by the gunboat fleet of seven vessels, 
moved up the Ohio to Paducah, and thence to 
Bailey's Ferry, on the east bank, three miles above 
Fort Henry, where the troops were landed on the 
4th. On the 6th the troops advanced toward the 
enemy's works, but were so much delayed by the 
condition of the roads, the whole country being in- 
undated, that the fort succumbed to the attack of 
the fleet after a severe bombardment of one hour 
and a half, and before the army could get up to par- 
ticipate in the attack. " The plan of the attack," 
says Foote, " so far as the army reaching the rear 
of the fort to make a demonstration, was frustrated 
by the excessively muddy roads and the high stage 
of water, preventing the arrival of our troops until 
some time after I had taken possession of the fort." 
The main force of the enemy — stationed about two 
miles from the fort, to be out of reach of the gun- 
boats — ingloriously retreated on Fort Donelson be- 
fore the result of the action was known, and without 
striking a single blow. 

The Union general at once telegraphed to the 
department commander: " Fort Henry is ours. The 
gunboats silenced the batteries before the invest- 



FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 105 

ment was completed. ... I shall take and destroy 
Fort Donelson the 8th, and return to Fort Henry." 
On the 7th Grant's cavalry penetrated to within 
a mile of Fort Donelson, driving in the Confederate 
pickets, and the army was ordered to march on the 
day following-, but, owing to the impassable state 
of the roads, it was found impracticable to move the 
baggage or artillery, and owing to the high state of 
water in the Tennessee, flooding the whole country, 
it was found impossible to proceed for several days 
until portions of the ground could be bridged over. 
Ordering up re-enforcements from various quarters, 
Grant moved the advance of his army, under Mc- 
Clernand, toward Fort Donelson on the nth, and 
the day following the main body, commanded by 
C. F. Smith, and numbering fifteen thousand men, 
marched from Fort Henry, leaving a force of twenty- 
five hundred, under General Wallace, to garrison 
and hold that post and Fort Heiman. Our troops 
halted in front of the Confederate lines the same 
day, no obstacles having been opposed to their 
march by the enemy. The gunboat fleet had already 
proceeded down the Tennessee, in order to co-oper- 
ate with the army in the attack upon Donelson, and 
with them had gone transports, having on board 
six regiments to be disposed of as circumstances 
should render expedient. 

The Confederate stronghold against which the 
combined forces of the army and navy were now 
directed was situated on the west bank of the Cum- 
berland River, inclosing about one hundred acres, 
and garrisoned by twenty-one thousand men under 
Generals Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner. The coun- 



Io6 GENERAL GRANT. 

try was hilly and densely wooded in the vicinity 
of the main fort, but the timber had been cut down 
far out in advance of the breastworks, the smaller 
trees chopped till they stood breast high, and the 
limbs left attached to the trunks, forming- an abatis. 
Two streams, at this time not fordable, set back 
from the Cumberland and formed the right and left 
of the rebel position, which extended nearly three 
miles, and was strongly intrenched, every advantage 
having been taken of the defensible character of the 
country. At inside intervals were secondary lines 
and detached works, commanding the outer in- 
trenchments. The fort, standing upon a high hill 
on the river bank, where it makes an abrupt turn 
from north to west, flowing in the latter direction 
for about a quarter of a mile and then turning 
northward again, could pour a murderous fire from 
its upper and water batteries upon the attacking 
Union gunboats. 

Thursday, the 13th, was occupied in getting the 
troops in position. General C. F. Smith having the 
left, and General McClcrnand the right of the na- 
tional line. No assault was made, owing to the non- 
arrival of the gunboats with the re-enforcements 
sent by water, and the novel sight was exhibited of 
an army of fifteen thousand men besieging a strong- 
hold garrisoned by twenty-one thousand troops. 
During the day there was considerable cannonad- 
ing by both parties, and some picket firing. An 
assault was made by three regiments of JNIcClcr- 
nand's division during the afternoon for the pur- 
pose of making a lodgment upon the enemy's in- 
trenchments, and particularly upon an apartment 



I 



FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 107 

covering a strong battery in the front. The storm- 
ing party formed at the foot of the hill, where they 
were in a measure protected from a direct fire. The 
troops moved up the hill in a gallant manner, but 
the enemy's fire was so withering, and the obsta- 
cles presented by the abatis and pallisading so great, 
that they were compelled to fall back without ac- 
complishing the object. 

At sunset no re-enforcements of importance had 
arrived, nor had Flag-Officer Foote and the iron- 
clads yet appeared on the scene. That night the 
weather became intensely cold, and before morning 
a driving storm of snow and hail set in, causing the 
troops, who were bivouacking in line of battle with- 
out tents, many without blankets, and with insuf- 
ficient food, to undergo fearful sufifering. Many 
of the soldiers of both armies were found frozen 
to death after day dawned on Friday the 14th. 
With the morning light came the long-looked-for 
fleet and transports bearing Thayer's brigade. Gen- 
eral Wallace also arrived, having been ordered over 
from Fort Henry. His command was placed in the 
center line, with the exception of one brigade al- 
lotted to the extreme right. During the whole day 
a heavy artillery fire was kept up by the contending 
forces, and constant firing by the sharpshooters, 
and at three o'clock the naval attack was opened 
by the ironclads. After a severe engagement of 
nearly ten hours, during which time the naval ves- 
sels were all so much injured as to have but twelve 
guns that could be brought to bear on the Confed- 
erate works, the commodore wounded, and fifty- 
four men killed and disabled, Foote ordered his 



I08 GENERAL GRANT. 

squadron to withdraw. Had the attack been a suc- 
cess, it was the intention of General Grant to have 
carried the enemy's intrenchments by an assault of 
the whole line. That day he wrote: " Appearances 
now are that we shall have a protracted siege here. 
I fear the result of an attempt to carry the place by 
storm with new troops. I feel great confidence, 
however, of ultimately reducing the place." 

Before daylight on Saturday, the 15th, General 
Grant went on board the flagship St. Louis to con- 
sult with the wounded commodore, by whom he 
was informed that the disabled condition of his 
squadron compelled him to return to Cairo for re- 
pairs. The gallant Foote suggested that the army 
should remain in statu quo until the fleet could re- 
turn and take part either in a bombardment or in 
a protracted siege, and it is very possible that the 
advice would have been followed had it not been 
prevented by the enemy taking the initiative and 
hastening their own destruction. The Southern 
leaders, observing the constant arrival of re-en- 
forcements — the Union army now numbered twen- 
ty-two thousand men — feeling that the lines were 
closing around them, and aware that the investment 
of the place would soon be complete, decided upon 
assuming the aggressive and cutting their way out, 
if indeed they did not succeed in totally destroying 
Grant's army. Ten thousand men, including For- 
rest's cavalry, were to be thrown upon AlcClernand, 
and an equal number against the center under Wal- 
lace; these attacks being successful, would force 
back the right flank and center around General 
Smith, commanding the left, as a pivot, and then 



FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 109 

the whole army might be easily routed or destroyed. 
Accordingly, at five o'clock, before our half-frozen 
troops were astir, the Confederate column, led by 
Pillow, moved out with thirty guns to crush Mc- 
Clernand's division. 

The morning reveille had just sounded in our 
camp, and the troops were not under arms when 
the sound of musketry approaching nearer and 
nearer made it evident even to the inexperienced 
that a serious attack had begun against our right. 
McArthur's brigade was the first to feel the Con- 
federate fire, and soon the attack extended along 
the whole of McClernand's front, the overwhelm- 
ing number of the enemy gradually pushing back 
the Union forces, and frightening the faint-hearted 
by their fiendlike yells. Some guns were lost; the 
line was forced back; many regiments were waver- 
ing, their ammunition being entirely expended, 
when Wallace came up with timely re-enforcements 
from the center, giving courage to the hard-pressed 
troops, and holding for a time the enemy in check. 
Gradually, however, the Union line was forced back, 
amid some disorder and panic. It was at this junc- 
ture that Grant, returning from the flagship at about 
nine o'clock, met an aid galloping up to inform him 
of the assault. He immediately directed General 
Smith, who had not yet been engaged, to hold him- 
self in readiness to assault the Confederate right 
with his whole command. " Riding on," says Ba- 
deau, " he soon reached the point where the hardest 
fighting had occurred. The rebels had failed to 
make their way through the national lines, and were 
doggedly retiring. Still, the troops were very much 



no GENERAL GRANT. 

disordered; most of them had never been in battle. 
Some, and not a few, were yet unfamihar with the 
use of their muskets. The giving out of the am- 
munition in the cartridge boxes, and the heavy loss 
in field officers, had created great confusion in the 
ranks. There was no pursuit, and the battle was 
merely lulled, not ended. The men, like all raw 
troops, imagined the enemy to be in overwhelming 
force, and reported that the rebels had come out 
with knapsacks and haversacks, as if they meant to 
stay out and fight for several days. Grant at once 
inquired, 'Are the haversacks filled?' Some pris- 
oners were examined, and the haversacks proved to 
contain three days' rations. ' Then they mean to 
cut their way out; they have no idea of staying 
here to fight us; ' and, looking at his own disordered 
men not yet recovered from the shock of battle, 
Grant exclaimed, ' Whichever party attacks now 
will win, and the rebels will have to be very quick 
if they beat me.' " 

Putting spurs to his horse, he rode at once to 
the left, where the troops, not having been engaged, 
were fresh, and ordered an immediate assault. As 
tliey rode along the general and his stalT reassured 
the men with tlie news that the enemy were getting 
desperate, and that the attack of the morning was 
an' attempt to cut their way out, not an ordinary 
and confident assault. As soon as the troops caught 
this idea, they took new courage; scattered until 
now in knots all over the field, they at once re- 
formed, and moved toward the front. At this time 
Grant sent a re(|ucst to h'oote to haw tlie gunl)oats 
show themselves to the eneniv. " A terrible con- 



FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED, m 

flict," he said, " ensued in my absence, which has 
demorahzed a portion of my command, and I think 
the enemy is much more so. If the gunboats do 
not appear, it will reassure the enemy and still fur- 
ther demoralize our troops. I must order a charge 
to save appearances. I do not expect the gunboats 
to go into action." Two of the fleet accordingly 
ran up the river, and threw a few shells at long 
range. McClernand and Wallace were informed of 
Smith's order to assault, and directed to hold them- 
selves in readiness to renew the battle in their front 
the moment Smith began his attack. To McCler- 
nand the order was " to push his column to the river 
if possible, otherwise to remain, statu quo, maintain- 
ing his present position." 

General Smith's assaulting column was formed 
of Lauman's brigade, the Second Iowa Infantry hav- 
ing the lead. Smith formed the regiment in two 
lines, with a front of five companies each, thirty 
paces apart. He told the men what they had to do, 
and took his position between these two lines with 
the color bearer by his side. It was nearly sunset 
when the brigade dashed up the steep hillside to- 
ward the ridge where the Confederates had con- 
structed their outer works. They were met by a 
murderous fire, thinning the ranks and causing the 
men to waver for a moment, but the stirring cry of 
the stout-hearted general, " Forward, steady, men, 
steady! " encouraged the faltering column, and, with 
a cheer, it rushed up the hill, gained and passed the 
abatis, then the ridge, the redoubts, and with a bayo- 
net charge drove the enemy before them. Another 
hour of daylight would have sufiticed to carry the 



112 GENERAL GRANT. 

fort. As it was, Smith camped for the night within 
the Hne of intrenchments. Wallace and McCler- 
nand on the center and right had regained the 
ground lost in the morning, and as night fell held 
an advanced positon near the enemy's works. The 
commander's lodging that night was a negro hut, 
and the troops slept on the frozen ground, many 
of them without food, blankets, or fire, looking with 
enthusiasm to the coming day, when their toils and 
hardships would be crowned with victory. 

That evening a council of war was held within 
Fort Donelson, General Floyd, the commanding 
ofificer. General Pillow, the second in command, and 
General Buckner, the three chief officers. Floyd 
was a civilian, who had been Secretary of War under 
Buchanan, and in that position, while a sworn officer 
of Government, had removed arms and munitions 
of war to Southern arsenals, and had distributed 
the regular army among Southern posts, where both 
could readily be captured by the Confederacy as 
soon as organized. Neither by talent nor training 
was he qualified for his position. Pillow and Buck- 
ner, however, were officers whom Grant had known 
in Mexico, the latter much the abler and more hon- 
orable of the two. The discussion was long and 
acrimonious in character. Floyd thought only of 
escape, and declared he should turn the command 
over to Pillow and retreat up the river with his Vir- 
ginia brigade. Pillow, too, was disposed to desert 
the brave men whom he had led into the trap, and 
to avoid responsibility by assigning the command 
to General Buckner. " If the command comes into 
mv hands, I shall deem it my duty to surrender it," 



FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 113 

Buckner is reported to have said. " I shall not ask 
my troops to make a useless sacrifice of life, nor 
will I desert the men who have fought so nobly." 
Shortly after midnight the council broke up. 
Next morning, before daylight, a white flag waved 
over the fort, and General Buckner sent a flag of 
truce, asking what terms of surrender would be 
given. During the night Generals Floyd and Pil- 
low, embarking a portion of the Virginia brigade 
on two or three small steamers lying at the river 
bank, had secretly gone on board and fled up the 
river. Colonel Forrest and his cavalry had also 
escaped by fording the creek between the Union 
right and the river. The remainder of the garrison 
with the fort Buckner now wished to surrender, and 
proposed to General Grant an armistice and the 
appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms; 
but the latter replied at once, " No terms other than 
unconditional and immediate surrender can be ac- 
cepted. I propose to move immediately upon your 
works." * Buckner hastened to reply that the dis- 
tribution of the forces under his command, inci- 
dent to a change of commanders, and theoverwhelm- 

* The following communications relating to the surrender of 
Fort Donelson are copied from the originals in the possession of 
Ferdinand J. Dreer, Esq., of Philadelphia, who received them 
from General Rawlins, to whom they were given by Grant. 
Since the destruction, by fire, of Lincoln's original emancipation 
proclamation they are perhaps the most interesting existing docu- 
ments connected with the civil war, with the single exception of 
Grant's terms of surrender to Lee's army at Appomattox. 

Hdqrs., Fort Donelson, Feby. 16, 1862. 
Major Cosby will take or send by an officer to the nearest 
picket of the enemy the accompanying communication to Gen- 



114 



GENERAL GRANT. 



ing force opposed to him, compelled him to accept 
the " ungenerous and unchivalrous " terms pro- 

eral Grant, and request information of the point where future 
communications will reach him. Also inform him that my hdqrs. 
will be for the present Dover. 

S. B. BucKNER, Bng. Gen. 
Have the white flag hoisted on Fort Donelson, not on the 
batteries. 

S. B. BuCKNER, Brig. Gen. 

Headquarters, Fort Donelson, February i6, 1862. 
Sir : In consideration of all the circumstances governing the 
present condition of affairs at this station, I propose to the com- 
manding officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commis- 
sioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces and fort 
under my command, and in that view suggest an armistice until 
12 o'clock to-day. I am, sir, very respectfully, 
Your obt. sc'v't, 

S. B. BucKNER, Brig. Gen. C. S. A. 

To Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, 

Com' ding U. S. forces, near Fort Donelson. 

Headquarthrs, Army iv the Field, 

Camp near Donelson, February 16, 1862. 
General '&. B. BucKNER, Confederate Army. 

Sir : Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment 
of commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. 
No terms except an unconditional surrender can be accepted. I 
propose to move immediately upon your works. I am, sir, very 
respectfully, Your ob't se'v't, 

U. S. Grant, Brig. dn. 

Heahquarters, Dover, Tennessee, February 16, 1862. 
To Brig.-Gen. U. S. GRANT, U. S. Army. 

Sir : The distribution of forces under my command, incident 
to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming 
force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the 
brilliant success of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the 
uugcneruus and unchivalric terms which you propose. 
I am, sir, your very obt. sc'v't, 

S. B. BUCK.NER, Brig. Gen. C. S. A. 




-^ i^ i^ "^ 



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FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 115 

posed. As soon as General Grant received this 
communication from his Military Academy com- 
rade, he mounted his horse and proceeded with his 
staff to Buckner's headquarters, where he disclaimed 
any desire to unnecessarily humiliate his prisoners, 
but would allow the officers to retain their side-arms 
and personal baggage. All the public property, 
including horses, were to be given up, the privates 
being permitted, as in the case of the officers, to 
retain their personal effects. In the course of a 
conversation which took place between the com- 
manders, Buckner acknowledged that they had been 
foiled in their attempt to cut their way out the day 
previous, and, alluding to Grant's inferior force at 
the commencement of the siege, remarked, " If I 
had been in command, you would not have reached 
Fort Donelson so easily.'' " If you had been in 
command," replied Grant, " I should have waited 
for re-enforcements, and marched from Fort Henry 
in greater strength; but I knew that Pillow would 
not come out of his works to fight, and told my staff 
so, though I believed he would fight behind his 
works." The result of this magnificent victory, 
which electrified the loyal North, was sixty-five 
guns, seventeen thousand small arms, three thou- 
sand horses, and nearly fifteen thousand prisoners. 
It was the first important victory achieved by the 
Union arms, and it at once gave Grant a national 
reputation. The day after the surrender the vic- 
torious general issued a general order, in which 
he gave the most generous and deserved praise to 
the men by whose prowess and fortitude he had 
won the victory. For four successive nights, he 



Il6 GENERAL GRANT. 

wrote, " without shelter during the most inclement 
weather, they faced an enemy in large force, in a 
position chosen by himself. The victory was not 
only great in its moral effect, but had secured the 
greatest number of prisoners of war ever taken on 
this continent. Fort Donelson will hereafter be 
marked in capitals on the map of our united coun- 
try, and the men who fought the battle will live in 
the memory of a grateful people." 

As a reward for this achievement. Grant was 
made a major general. He was recommended by 
the Secretary of War, nominated at once by the 
President, and immediately confirmed by the Sen- 
ate, his commission dating from the day of the sur- 
render. Mr. Stanton, the new War Secretary, 
wrote: "We may well rejoice at the recent vic- 
tories, for they teach us that battles are to be won 
now, and by us, in the same and only manner that 
they were ever won by any people or in any age 
since the days of Joshua — by boldly pursuing and 
striking the foe. What under the blessing of Provi- 
dence I conceive to be the true organization of vic- 
tory and military combination to end this war was 
declared in a few words by General (irant's message 
to General P>uckner, ' I propose to move immedi- 
ately on your works.' " 

The capture of Fort Donelson penetrated the 
Confederate line of defense west of the Alleghany 
Mountains, turning both its extremities and un- 
covering the region behind. The importance of 
the achievement was exhil)itcd by the evacuation 
of Clarkcsville, on the east bank of the Cumberland 
River, where large quantities of military stores 



FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 



117 



were found by our troops, who entered February 
20th. Three days later the Union flag was seen in 
the streets of Nashville, that city being also hastily 
evacuated by General A. S. Johnston and his forces. 
Bowling Green, rendered untenable by the fall of 
Fort Donelson, was abandoned, and early in March 
the prelate Polk evacuated Columbus and took up 
a new position at Island No. 10, on the Mississippi. 
As these important places and strongholds fell one 
after another in rapid succession, the amazement 
and gratification of the loyal people of the North 
was unbounded. 

" My opinion was, and still is," wrote Grant a 
score of years later, " that immediately after the fall 
of Fort Donelson the way was opened to the na- 
tional forces all over the Southwest without much 
resistance. If one general who would have taken 
the responsibility had been in command of all the 
troops west of the Alleghanies, he could have 
marched to Chattanooga, Corinth, Memphis, and 
Vicksburg with the troops we then had, and, as 
volunteering was then going on rapidly over the 
North, there would soon have been force enough 
at all those centers to operate offensively against 
any body of the enemy that might be found near 
them. Rapid movements and the acquisition of re- 
bellious territory would have promoted volunteer- 
ing, so that re-enforcements could have been had 
as fast as transportation could have been obtained 
to carry them to their destination. On the other 
hand, there were tens of thousands of strong, able- 
bodied young men still at their homes in the South- 
western States who had not gone into the Confeder- 



Il8 GENERAL GRANT. 

ate army in February, 1862, and who had no par- 
ticular desire to go. If our Hnes had been extended 
to protect their homes, many of them would never 
have gone. Providence ruled differently. Time was 
given the enemy to collect armies and fortify his 
new positions, and twice afterward he came very 
near forcing his northwestern front up to the 
Ohio River." 

When Grant visited the naval commander on 
board the St. Louis the day before the fall of Fort 
Donelson, he received from the commodore on his 
departure a few fine cigars, one of which he placed 
in his mouth, expecting to light it as soon as he 
reached land. The alarming news of the enemy's 
fierce assault on our line which met him on return- 
ing from the flagship allowed no time for lighting 
cigars, and so the general, mounted on his favorite 
charger Jack, or, as known among the soldiers, Old 
Clayback, rode for several hours on the battlefield 
with Commodore Foote's fragrant but unlit Ha- 
vana between his teeth. When the particulars of 
the capture of the fort was flashed over the loyal 
North, Knox, Richardson, and the other army cor- 
respondents in their dispatches all referred to the 
incident of Grant's cigar. The result was that with- 
in a week cigars came pouring in from the hero's 
admirers in Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, New 
York, Philadelphia, and other patriotic cities. As 
they were generally of the best brands, the victori- 
ous soldier, hitherto among the most moderate of 
men in the use of tobacco, set resolutely to work 
to smoke as many cigars as possible, and soon suc- 
ceeded in fairly winning and faithfully maintaining 



d 



FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 



119 



for twenty years the reputation of being among the 
greatest smokers in or out of the army. A bunch 
of twenty-five was not an unusual allowance for 
him to dispose of in a day during the w^ar. Of 
course, he could not consume that number in so 
short a space of time, but would present some to 
friends and visitors at headquarters. When, in 
1884, Grant, by the advice of his physician, aban- 
doned the habit, he said to the writer of these lines, 
" I was never aware of any injurious effects from 
my habit of smoking, but, having been recommend- 
ed to stop, I have done so." 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 

When Grant was given an increased command 
by being advanced to the District of West Tennes- 
see, General William T. Sherman was assigned to 
his former position, the District of Cairo. They 
first met at the Military Academy, Grant graduat- 
ing three years later than Sherman. There is noth- 
ing finer in military biography than the story of 
the unbroken friendship of these two illustrious 
soldiers, so unlike in character, and yet so faithful 
to each other under all circumstances. After the 
fall of Fort Donelson, Sherman wrote congratulat- 
ing the successful soldier on his splendid victory, 
to which Grant replied: " I feel under obligations to 
you for the kind terms of your letter, and hope, 
should an opportunity occur, you will earn for your- 
self that promotion which you are kind enough to 
say belongs to me. I care nothing for promotion, 
so long as our arms are successful, and no political 
appointments arc made." " This was," says Ba- 
deau, " the beginning of a friendship destined there- 
after never to flag, to stand the test of apparent 
rivalry and public censure, to remain firm under 
trials such as few friendships were ever subjected 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 121 

to; to become warmer as often as it was sought 
to be interrupted, and in hours of extraordinary 
anxiety and responsibiUty and care to afford a solace 
and a support that were never lacking- when the 
need arose." 

On February 27th Grant went to Nashville to 
consult with General Buell about the disposition of 
their troops, the jurisdiction of the two commanders 
having become confused during the recent move- 
ments, and the former having ordered a portion of 
Grafit's army to join him at Nashville. March ist 
came orders from General Halleck to move his 
whole force back from the Cumberland to the Ten- 
nessee, with a view to an expedition up the latter 
river to Eastport and Corinth, Miss. On the 4th, 
he being at Fort Henry, and his troops moving 
forward. Grant received orders from Halleck to 
place General Smith in command of the ex- 
pedition, and to remain himself at Fort Henrv. 
To this he replied the day following that the troops 
would be sent forward as directed. Smith, there- 
fore, assumed command of the troops in the field, 
and selected Pittsburg Landing as a base of opera- 
tions against Corinth, a position of great importance 
and the key to the whole railway system of com- 
munication between the States of Tennessee and 
Mississippi; it was twenty miles distant from the 
Confederate position, on the west side of the Ten- 
nessee, and was flanked on the left by a deep ravine, 
and on both flanks by the Snake and Lick Creeks, 
which would compel the enemy to attack in front, 
the distance between the creeks being less than two 
miles. The Landing was protected by the gunboats 



122 GENERAL GRANT. 

Lexington and Tyler, and Buell's Army of the Ohio, 
moving forward, was to re-enforce the Army of the 
Tennessee. 

Grant's success provoked that jealousy which 
was the bane of the service in the early period of 
the war, and charges were preferred against him 
at Washington of having absented himself from his 
command w-ithout leave, of not maintaining proper 
order in camp, and of failing to report the number 
of men under his command. About ]\Iarch 14th 
General Halleck received orders from Washington 
to investigate these charges and report. He did so, 
replying that Grant did proceed to Nashville im- 
mediately after the capture of Fort Donelson with- 
out orders from him, but, he was satisfied, with 
good intentions, and from a desire to subserve the 
public interests; also that during his absence cer- 
tain irregularities had occurred at Fort Donelson 
which were a direct violation of his (Grant's) or- 
ders; that General Grant had made the proper ex- 
planations, and had been directed to resume his 
command in the field. Halleck recommended that 
no further notice be taken of the affair. Grant's 
failure to make returns of his forces was due partly 
to the interruption of telegraphic and mail com- 
munication, also to the failure of several of his sub- 
ordinates to report to him. Copies of both the or- 
der and report Halleck now sent to Grant. It was 
not until after the close of the war, however, that 
the latter learned from the researches of his biogra- 
pher Badeau, among the records of the War De- 
partment, that Halleck himself had preferred the 
original charges. 



4 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOII. 



123 



^\'hen first made aware of their existence, Grant 
had asked to be reheved from further service under 
General Halleck, but that officer had refused his 
request. " I have averaged writing- " (was Grant's 
reply on j\Iarch 6th) *' more than once a day to 
keep you informed of my position, and it is no fault 
of mine if you have not received my letters. My 
going to Nashville was strictly intended for the 
good of the service, and not to gratify any desire 
of my own. Believing sincerely that I must have 
enemies between you and myself who are trying 
to impair my usefulness, I respectfully ask to be 
relieved from further duty in this department." 
Halleck soon reinstated Grant to full command of 
the army in the field, and ordered him to lead it to 
new achievements.* Grant complied, and on March 
17th relieved General Smith and resumed com- 
mand, establishing his headquarters at Savannah. 
General Charles F. Smith, who commanded the vic- 
torious army during the interim, was perhaps the 
equal of any soldier then in the service. He it was 
who pushed up the Tennessee River and, making 
his headquarters at Savannah, immediately began 
operations with a view to the capture of Corinth, 
a county town of great strategic importance. He 
sent Sherman's division up the river to Hamburg 
to cut the railroad, but the condition of the river 

* Halleck wrote : " You can not be relieved from your com- 
mand. There is no good reason for it. I am certain that all 
the authorities at Washington ask is that you enforce discipline 
and punish the disorderly. Instead of relieving you, I wish you, 
as soon as your new army is in the field, to assume the immediate 
command and lead it on to new victories." 



124 



GENERAL GRANT. 



compelled its return and landing at Pittsburg. 
There Smith concentrated other divisions with one 
at Crump's Landing, four miles above Savannah. 
From there Grant wrote to General Sherman, " I 
have just arrived, and, although sick for the last 
two weeks, begin to feel better at the thought of 
being again w'ith the troops." 

The army then consisted of five divisions under 
Major-Generals Smith and McClernand, and Briga- 
dier-Generals Sherman, Hurlbut, and Lewis Wal- 
lace, the latter stationed at Crump's Landing, on 
the left bank of the river, about five miles below, 
and, being considered within supporting distance, 
were left to guard the Purdy road. Smith's and Mc- 
Clernand's divisions were pushed forward from 
Savannah, so that all our forces were soon collected 
together at Pittsburg Landing. Grant remained at 
Savannah to superintend the organization of the 
troops constantly arriving, which were formed into 
another division — the sixth — and Brigadier-General 
Prentiss assigned to its command, which was at 
once sent to join the army at Pittsburg. Another 
motive for his remaining at Savannah was that he 
could communicate more readily with General Buell, 
who was moving forward from Nashville with forty 
thousand veterans to join Grant, the Army of the 
Ohio having been transferred to Halleck's depart- 
ment, to enable the Northern troops to meet on 
e(|ual terms the large force that was assembling 
for the defense of Corinth, estimated as high as one 
hundred thousand men. Bragg's corjis had been 
brought from Mobile and Pensacola; General Polk 
had come from Island No. lo witli a portion of 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 125 

his troops ; Johnston had marched there after evacu- 
ating Nashville ; and other troops had rendezvoused 
from various quarters, including Hardee's corps and 
Breckinridge's command. It was also confidently 
expected that they would be re-enforced by the 
trans-Mississippi armies of Price and Van Dorn. 
The object of this vast assemblage was not only to 
protect Corinth, but to crush Grant's army before 
it should be re-enforced by Buell. General Albert 
Sidney Johnston and Beauregard were the ranking 
officers, and as to which was in supreme command 
before Johnston's death has been the subject of 
much controversy. 

The battlefield of Shiloh, or Pittsburg, for by 
both names it appears to be equally known, extends 
back three miles from the Landing. It is a thickly 
wooded and broken country, interspersed with 
patches of cultivation and a few rude buildings, 
among which stood near the junction of the Corinth 
and Purdy roads the Shiloh Church, a primitive 
fane, constructed of logs, from which the sanguinary 
field was named by our Southern foes. The Union 
army faced mainly to the south and west, the line 
extending from Lick Creek, on the south, to Snake 
Creek, on the north; Sherman on the right, some- 
what in advance, and across the main Corinth road ; 
on his left, but somewhat retired, IMcClernand's 
command was posted; next, Prentiss was advanced, 
and on his left, commanding a detached brigade of 
Sherman's division, and covering the crossing of 
Lick Creek, was Stuart. General Smith's division, 
commanded by W. H. L. Wallace, the gallant old 
soldier being on a sick bed at Savannah, was with 



126 GENERAL GRANT. 

Hurlbut's command to the rear, and near the Land- 
ing, acting as reserves, and respectively support- 
ing the right and left wings of the army. The sixth 
division, under Lewis Wallace, was at Crump's 
Landing, his troops being stretched out on the 
Purdy road, so as to be in readiness for a movement 
to Pittsburg or Purdy, as circumstances might re- 
quire. Buell was " hastening slowly," his advance 
under Nelson having reached Savannah, and been 
ordered by General Grant to move to the river bank, 
opposite Pittsburg, on the morning of the 6th, and 
it was confidently expected that Buell's entire com- 
mand would arrive during the day. 

On Sunday morning, April 6th, while General 
Grant and his staff were breakfasting, at an unusu- 
ally early hour, and their horses were saddled pre- 
paratory to riding out from Savannah in search of 
Buell, firing was heard from the direction of Pitts- 
burg, only six miles distant in a direct line. There 
had been considerable skirmishing with desultory 
firing for several days, but the practiced ear of Grant 
at once detected in the sounds that reached him 
unmistakable evidences of a battle, and he immedi- 
ately went on board his flagship, as he called his 
special boat, and started for Pittsburg, after sending 
a note in these words to Buell: "Heavy firing is 
heard up the river, indicating plainly that an attack 
has been made upon our most advanced positions. 
I have been looking for this, but did not believe the 
attack could be made before IMonday or Tuesday. 
This necessitates my joining the forces up the river, 
instead of meeting you to-day as I had contem- 
plated. I have directed General Nelson to move 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 127 

up the river with his division. He can march to 
opposite Pittsburg." 

On his way up the river Grant stopped at 
Crump's Landing and notified General Wallace in 
person to be ready to move at a moment's warn- 
ing to support the main army, or, if the attack there 
should be but a feint, to defend himself until re- 
enforcements should arrive, in the event of the ene- 
my moving against him, on the Purdy road. Grant 
then proceeded to Pittsburg, arriving there between 
eight and nine o'clock, and at once rode to the front. 
It was in good time that he arrived, for a fierce and 
bloody battle was being fought, which was putting 
to the test the manhood of the men of the North, 
partially surprised, and outnumbered, as they were, 
forty thousand against thirty-three thousand, many 
of whom were raw troops. Grant, as soon as he saw 
the state of affairs, sent imperative orders to Nelson 
and Wallace to advance with all possible speed, a 
staff ofificer being sent to Wallace, directing him to 
march immediately to join the army at Pittsburg 
Landing, while to Nelson he wTOte : " You will 
hurry up your command as fast as possible. The 
boats will be in readiness to transport all troops 
of your command across the river. All looks well, 
but it is necessary for you to push forward as fast 
as possible." 

The battle of Shiloh, among the severest strug- 
gles of the war, was fought on a clear, sunny, spring 
day. The onset was made not on a sleeping army, as 
has been too often represented, but upon troops 
who were in a measure prepared. " It w^as well 
known," wrote McPherson, " that the enemy were 



128 GENERAL GRANT. 

approaching our lines, and tliere had been more 
or less skirmishing for three days preceding the 
battle. The consequence was our breakfasts were 
ordered at an early hour, and our horses saddled, to 
be ready in case of attack." The storm first burst 
upon Prentiss, who, having doubled his guards the 
night before and that morning sent out Colonel 
Moore with a detachment of five companies to 
reconnoiter, had timely notice of the enemy's ap- 
proach, and drew up his division in advance of its 
camps, and then received the first impetuous attack 
of the enemy. Sherman next felt the shock, and 
the tide of battle soon swept along the whole Union 
line. The raw troops of Prentiss were forced back 
with the loss of some guns, but took up a new posi- 
tion inside their camps, and were re-enforced by 
Hurlbut. Sherman was also compelled to fall back 
until supported by McClernand, while our left and 
center, where the assault was fiercest, w^as strength- 
ened by the troops of W. H. L. Wallace. Before 
lo A. M., when our men were stubbornly contesting 
their ground, and the battle was raging fiercest, 
Grant appeared at the front, and by his presence 
and personal valor did much to restore the courage 
of the army. Sherman says in a letter that Grant 
was early on the field; that he visited his division 
in person, about lo a. m., when the battle raged 
fiercest, approved of his stubborn resistance to the 
enemy, and, in answer to his inquiry concerning 
cartridges, told him he had anticipated their want, 
and given orders accordingly, and remarking that 
his presence was more needed over at the left, rode 
off to encourage tlie hardly pressed ranks of Mc- 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOII. 



1-9 



Clernand's and Hurlbut's divisions. General Grant 
next appeared near the center, and thence passed 
along to the left, encouraging by his words and ex- 
ample, and giving orders to the division command- 
ers. He was also engaged in sending deserters back 
to their commands, and in organizing new lines 
with those who had straggled too far to regain their 
own commands. Even when on that hotly con- 
tested field, and constantly under fire. Grant was 
to be seen making unwearied exertions to maintain 
his position until Wallace and Nelson should arrive 
with the long-looked-for re-enforcements of ten 
thousand veterans. As Wellington longed for night 
or Field-Marshal Bliicher, so did Grant anxiously 
await the arrival of night or the two delayed di- 
visions of Nelson and Wallace. 

During the morning Grant sent an order to an- 
other of Buell's division commanders, who he 
learned had arrived at Savannah, " You will move 
your command with the utmost dispatch to the 
river at this point, where steamboats will be in readi- 
ness to transport you to Pittsburg." And, still later, 
another dispatch was sent to the commanding officer 
of the advanced forces from Buell's army near Pitts- 
burg: " Tj^e attack on my forces has been very 
spirited from early this morning. The appearance 
of fresh troops in the field now would have a pow- 
erful effect, both by inspiring our men and dis- 
heartening the enemy. If you will get upon the 
field, leaving all your baggage on the east bank of 
the river, it will be more to our advantage, and 
probably save the day to us. The rebel forces are 
estimated at over one hundred thousand men. Mv 



I20 GENERAL GRANT. 

headquarters will be in the log building on the top 
of the hill, where you wall be furnished a staff officer 
to guide you to your place on the field." About 
three o'clock Buell arrived in advance of his troops, 
having hurried forward with his staff on hearing, 
at Savannah, of the terrible battle that was being 
fought. As the two generals were consulting to- 
gether at the Landing, Buell inquired, " What prep- 
arations have you made for retreating? " when Grant 
promptly replied, " I have not despaired of whip- 
ping them yet ! " 

At last the Union line was reduced to a mile in 
length, in a curve at the Landing; it was a forced 
concentration, but it really consolidated what was 
left of the exhausted army. At this time the enemy 
equally worn out with ten hours' continuous march- 
ing and fighting — were brought to a stand by the 
reserve artillery and the heavy fire of the gunboats 
Tyler and Lexington, which shelled the woods and 
swept the ravine, enfilading the Confederate lines 
and batteries. " About 5 p. m.," wrote Sherman, 
" before the sun set. General Grant came again to 
me, and, after hearing my report of matters, ex- 
plained to me the situation of affairs on the left, 
which was not as favorable; still, the enemy had 
failed to reach the landing of the boats. We 
agreed that the enemy had expended the furore of 
his attack, and we estimated our loss and approxi- 
mated our then strength, including Lewis Wallace's 
fresh division, expected every minute. He then or- 
dered me to get all things ready, and at daybreak 
the next day to assume the offensive. That was 
before General r.ncll had arrived, l)ut he was known 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 131 

to be near at hand. General Buell's troops took 
no essential part in the first day's fight, and Grant's 
army, though collected hastily together, green as 
militia, some regiments arriving without cartridges 
even, and nearly all hearing the dread sound of 
battle for the first time, had successfully withstood 
and repelled the first day's terrific onset of a supe- 
rior armv, well commanded and well handled. I 
knew I had orders from General Grant to assume 
the offensive before I knew General Buell was on 
the west side of the Tennessee. ... I understood 
Grant's forces were to advance on the west side of 
the Corinth road, and Buell on the left (this was 
on Monday), and accordingly at daylight I ad- 
vanced my division by the flank, the resistance being 
trivial, up to the very spot where the day before 
the battle had been most severe, and there waited 
until near noon for Buell's troops to get up abreast, 
when the entire line advanced and recovered all the 
ground we had ever held. I knew that, with the 
exception of one or two severe struggles, the fight- 
ing of April 7th was easy as compared with that 
of April 6th. I never was disposed, nor am I now, 
to question anything done by General Buell and 
his army, and know that, approaching our field of 
battle from the rear, he encountered that sickening 
crowd of stragglers and fugitives that excited his 
contempt and that of his army, who never gave full 
credit to those in the front line who did fight hard, 
and who had, at 4 p. m., checked the enemy and 
were preparing the next day to assume the offen- 
sive." 

About four o'clock, on Sunday afternoon, the 



132 



GENERAL GRANT. 



time when the sanguinary contest may be said to 
have ceased, the head of Nelson's division of Buell's 
army arrived on the field, and took up a position 
on the left, while Wallace's division, from Crump's 
Landing, came on the ground after dark, and oc- 
cupied a position on Sherman's right. Although 
the fighting was substantially over for the day, their 
arrival on the field had a noticeably good effect upon 
the worn-out and somewhat dispirited troops. Be- 
fore midnight tw^enty-five thousand fresh troops 
had crossed the river and taken position on the 
left of Grant's army, being placed there by Buell. 
Having made all his dispositions for the second 
day's battle, and said to his stafif, " It was tough 
work to-day, but we'll beat them to-morrow," the 
weary soldier sat down in the rain at the foot of a 
tree, after twelve o'clock, to get a few hours' sleep 
before the dawn of the coming day. 

When the battle began at early daylight on 
Monday the Union line was formed as follows: 
Nelson on the extreme left, then in order Critten- 
den, McCook, Hurlbut, McClernand, Sherman, and 
Lewis Wallace, what was left of Prentiss's and W. 
H. L. Wallace's divisions being divided among the 
other commanders of the Army of the Tennessee. 
Nelson was first attacked as he was himself advan- 
cing to attack; next the center came into action, 
and soon the whole Union line was engaged. The 
accession of Buell's army, nearly doubling our ef- 
fective force, told at once, and the Confederates 
were forced to give ground. Tlie enemy made 
fierce attacks upon our left, with the vain hope of 
gaining the Landing, tlie prize almost within their 



THE BATTLE OF SIIILOH. 



133 



grasp at the close of Sunday's action, but were gal- 
lantly repulsed, their whole line being gradually 
forced back till all the lost ground was regained. 
By four o'clock Beauregard saw the uselessness of 
any further efforts, and reluctantly gave orders for 
the army to retreat. Our troops, worn out with two 
days' continuous fighting, and Buell's command 
also much exhausted by Sunday's marching and 
Monday's conflict, were in no condition to make a 
vigorous pursuit, and the Union army encamped 
that night on substantially the same ground it had 
occupied before the battle. Beauregard fell back 
with his discomfited army to Corinth, without hav- 
ing crushed Grant, as he vaingloriously threatened. 
On the 8th he applied to the Union commander, 
under a flag of truce, for permission to bury his 
dead, but that duty had been already performed for 
friend and foe alike. 

Grant's loss, including that of Buell's army, was 
twelve thousand two hundred and seventeen, while 
the enemy's loss was unquestionably much greater, 
notwithstanding Beauregard's report, in which it is 
officially stated as being but ten thousand six hun- 
dred and twenty-eight. The Confederates lost their 
leader, Albert Sidney Johnston, killed in the first 
day's fight, while we had to mourn the loss of W. H. 
L. Wallace and the capture of Prentiss, who, un- 
willing to fall back, although the line had retreated 
on each side of him, leaving his flanks exposed and 
in the air, was surrounded, and with four regiments 
of his command, taken prisoners. 

We could fill many pages with the relation of 
heroic deeds and interesting incidents of the battle 



134 



GENERAL GRANT. 



of Shiloh, with descriptions of the sufiferings of 
the sick and wounded, and with accounts of the 
shocking scenes and sights of that Golgotha, did 
the scope of this biography permit. Strange to say, 
that Grant, who constantly exposed himself both 
in the Mexican and civil wars, and who in the latter 
frequently rendered his staff of^cers exceedingly 
uncomfortable by what they deemed unnecessary 
exposure, was never wounded. At Shiloh, on the 
second day, he was saved by a bullet striking his 
scabbard and breaking it near the sword hilt, which 
otherwise would probably have inflicted a mortal 
wound, thus presenting the remarkable circum- 
stance of the commanders of both armies being 
fatally wounded at almost the identical hour of 
each day's severe struggle. 

During Sunday's sanguinary fighting a middle- 
aged man, without coat or hat, was observed by a 
general officer standing behind the shelter of a tree, 
loading and firing with as much coolness as if he 
were shooting squirrels in lieu of " secesh." He 
had evidently seceded from his company and regi- 
ment, if he ever belonged to one, or was a Union 
man of the Tennessee, fighting on his own ac- 
count, like the later John Burns of Gettysburg. He 
would raise his gun, take deliberate aim, and fire, 
eagerly watching the result. If successful in bring- 
ing down one of the enemy, he made a chalk mark 
on his cartridge box. Three times he was seen to 
discharge his unerring rifle with the same result, 
and each time the modern Leatherstocking indorsed 
one on his account. A moment after a shell struck 
the tree, crashing through the trunk, instantly kill- 



THE BATTLE OF SHII.OH. 



135 



ing the rifieman. The following Tuesday, when the 
dead were buried, his body was found, with one 
hand still grasping the fatal rifle, while by his side 
was his cartridge box, on which his chalk marks 
were still visible. He lies interred at the foot of 
the tree, in a nameless grave, and his gun, which 
was the messenger of death to his enemies on that 
memorable Sunday, now hangs in a Northern libra- 
ry, with other war trophies, as a memento of the 
battlefield of Shiloh. 

In the country around Pittsburg Landing the 
inclosures are all the old Virginia snake fence, in 
the angle of which a person may sit and be sup- 
ported on both sides. In such an angle, and with 
his feet braced against a small tree, sat a man ap- 
parently thirty or thirty-five years of age, bolt up- 
right, and gazing at a locket in his hand. Approach- 
ing nearer, it was discovered that he was dead and 
rigid, his stiffened feet so braced against the tree 
that he could not fall forward, and the fence sup- 
porting him behind on each side. His eyes were 
open and fixed with a horrible stony stare on the 
daguerreotype, which was held in both hands. In 
a hasty glance over his shoulder, it was seen that 
the picture was that of a woman and child, the wife 
and daughter, doubtless, of the dead man, upon 
whom the eyes of the husband and father had not, 
even in death, ceased to gaze. In vain would that 
wife and child watch and wait, in their distant Ala- 
bama home, for the soldier's return. Like the rifle- 
man, he now sleeps in a nameless grave, and his 
hands still grasp the counterfeit presentment of the 
widow and orphaned child. 



136 GENERAL GRANT. 

A week after the battle, while out with a recon- 
noitering party on the Corinth road, we came sud- 
denly upon one of the most shocking sights ever 
beheld. Just over the crest of a hill, on the sloping 
bank of a small stream, some thirty yards distant 
from the highway, we saw about twenty Confederate 
soldiers lying dead on the ground, several so black 
in the face that we mistook them for negroes until, 
upon closer examination, we were undeceived by 
the color of their hair and hands. They were in such 
a frightful condition that it was impossible to ap- 
proach them closely, or we should have thrown 
some of the numerous articles of clothing lying 
around over their faces. Orders had been issued by 
General Grant for the burial of all the dead of both 
armies, but these poor fellows, probably killed in 
the pursuit of Monday, had escaped the notice of 
the burial parties. They were inmiediately interred 
when the facts were made known on our return. 

A few days after the battle the author heard our 
hero make a clever reply to a civilian visitor from 
the North, who said, " General Grant, were you not 
surprised by the Confederates?" To which calmly 
and deliberately came the crushing reply, " No, but 
I am now." With what a neat and easy turn of 
the wrist the commander ran the unhappy victim 
through! Years after I recalled the circumstance to 
Grant, and asked if he was aware that he had made 
the identical answer which a stupid guest, dining 
at Apsley House, London, had received from Well- 
ington when he blurted out the question, '' Pray, 
duke, were you surprised at Waterloo?" The gen- 
eral rcmcml)crcd having somewhere heard or read 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 137 

the story, but had no recollection of his own reply, 
with which and the coincidence he appeared not a 
little amused. 

Grant enjoyed telling a little story of the first 
day's battle of Shiloh, when Sherman saw a soldier 
making a rapid movement to the rear, and de- 
manded in a stern voice, " What are you running 
for?" to which the frightened man shouted as he 
dashed past, " Because I can't fly! " The ball from 
the general's pistol missed him, and he soon joined 
the panic-stricken crowd of raw troops who sought 
safety from the Confederate fire under the blufT 
near Pittsburg Landing. 

General Grant began his dispatches giving an 
account of the conflict of Shiloh in these words: 
" It becomes my duty again to report another bat- 
tle, fought by two great armies, one contending for 
the best government ever desired, and the other for 
its destruction. It is pleasant to record the success 
of the army contending for the former principle." 
The news of this great contest spread like wildfire 
through the North. When the telegram reached 
Washington a member of the House of Representa- 
tives rose in his place and asked leave to read it; 
amid cheers on every side rose the cry, " To the 
clerk's desk! " When Mr. Colfax had read the glad 
tidings, the breathless silence was suddenly broken 
by the most enthusiastic expressions of delight. A 
salute of one hundred guns was fired, and the hero 
was thanked by the War Department. 

During the afternoon of the first day, when 
General Buell arrived on the field and found the 
Union army had been driven back, he said to Grant, 



138 



GENERAL GRANT. 



" If you are beaten, how will you get your troops 
across the river? Those transports will not take ten 
thousand men." " If I am compelled to cross the 
Tennessee," said Grant, " ten thousand will be all 
that I shall need transports for." Two hours later 
he said to Sherman: *' Reform your ranks and at- 
tack the enemy in your front at break of day. It 
is always an advantage to be the attacking party, 
and we must fire the first gun to-morrow morning." 
The general said of the battle of Shiloh: " No such 
contest ever took place on this continent. In its 
results it was one of our greatest victories." On an- 
other occasion he remarked, " It was a case of 
Southern dash against Northern endurance," which 
very correctly describes the two days' struggle. The 
battle of Shiloh was unquestionably a victory for 
the North, in this that the efifort to crush Grant 
before Buell joined him signally failed. Johnston 
did not make good his boast that " To-night we 
will water our horses in the Tennessee River." 

Again after this victory Grant was assailed with 
charges afifecting his honor as a man and ability as 
a soldier. It was said that he was surprised in his 
camp ; that he had made a fatal mistake in not throw- 
ing up intrenchments to secure his position ; that 
he was a butcher — referring to the loss of life in- 
curred by fighting his men in the open; that he was 
intoxicated while the battle was raging. Grant 
himself maintained a dignified silence in the face of 
this storm of detraction. lie did not rush into print 
with unseemly haste in his own defense. But in his 
reports, and later in his Memoirs, he effectually 
disposed of the charges that he was surprised and 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 139 

that he committed a fatal error in not intrenching. 
As to the first, he showed that the Union forces 
began the attack, and, as to the second, that most 
of his troops had come to him scarcely knowing 
how to load and fire a musket, and that he thought 
it more important, as the position of his army was 
a strong one, to teach them the use of other arms 
than picks and shovels. 

General Grant's friends, however, w^ere not silent 
in his behalf. Perhaps no man was ever more ably 
defended. On the floor of the House of Representa- 
tives, Mr. Washburne protested strongly, in an elo- 
quent speech, against the outrageous abuse to which 
the victorious general was subjected. Another of 
Grant's defenders was General Sherman, who sent 
several vigorous and characteristic letters in answer 
to a lieutenant governor of Ohio, who had written 
abusive and untruthful statements about Grant. He 
was never again elected to any public ofBce, and 
was commonly spoken of as " the late Mr. Stanton." 
It must be remembered that even Washington did 
not escape detraction during the war of the Revolu- 
tion, and that efforts were made to supersede him 
in the command of the American army; that the 
deposition of Wellington was demanded and his hu- 
miliation in the eyes of Europe, at the very moment 
that he was successfully defending Spain against 
the conqueror of the Old World, who a few years 
later was defeated by the English soldier at Water- 
loo, as Lee was at Appomattox, by the commander 
whose career we are recording. 

Antietam, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, and Shi- 
loh have within a few years been acquired and desig- 



I40 



GENERAL GRANT. 



nated by the Government as national military parks 
and reservations. On the thirty-third anniversary of 
the two days' fierce struggle of April, 1862, the 
Shiloh Battlefield Association held a reunion on the 
spot where eighty thousand fighting men fought for 
the mastery and four thousand laid down their lives. 
Appropriate exercises were conducted in a memo- 
rial church near the little log church, around which 
the men of the North and the South met in deadly 
conflict. A grand stand was erected close by for 
the occasion, and canopied with the national flag. 
" Welcome to the Blue and Gray," was the legend 
on the outside, while within were Grant's memor- 
able words, " Let us have peace." Among the seven 
thousand veterans present were Generals Buell and 
Prentiss of the North, and Generals A. P. Stewart 
and Joseph Wheeler of the South. The best of 
good feeling prevailed, and, as was said by Buell in 
an eloquent address, " All past differences were 
buried, and only brotherly love remained." * A 
statement was received and read from ("icneral Lewis 
Wallace, of Indiana, setting forth the reasons why 
his division did not arrive on the battlefield earlier 
on April 6th. It was in part as follows: 

It is known to many, if not all, of you that for 
years I was held responsible for the disasters which 
overtook the Federal army the first day of the strug- 

* At the third annual reunion of the Shiloh Battlefield Asso- 
ciation on Memorial Day, 1896, the first monument erected there 
in honor of fallen comrades was unveiled by an Illinois regiment, 
and ten thousand white cape jessamine fiowcrs were sent by 
Texan comrades to place on the graves of the Blue and Gray 
who died on thai famous field. 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOII. 141 

gle, disasters all of which occurred before I received 
an order to march to the field. There were men in 
high position who charged that I was laggard in 
going to the fight, that it took me the whole day to 
make six miles, that I lost my way, and that when 
found I was moving from the battle, not toward it. 
It is true General Grant, when dying, exonerated 
me from these terrible accusations, but as the years 
go, whitening my head, I grow more and more 
anxious to support General Grant's exoneration with 
facts and leave it above all impeachment, and this 
not less for the honor of the brave men who were 
my comrades in that trial than my own. Accord- 
ingly, I have been spending both these anniversary 
days reviewing my march from Crump's Landing 
to Pittsburg Landing, and making out distinctly 
the two miles and more over which my division 
fought, never once yielding an inch of ground, 
through the second day. We did not merely step the 
route. I employed the surveyor of Hardin County 
and paid his chain and consulted his compass as 
he followed us. Instead of six miles, by actual chain 
measurement my division moved full seventeen 
miles from half-past eleven in the forenoon till dusk 
in the evening. Instead of going from the fight, 
every step was toward it. Ask any soldier of either 
side if fourteen miles are not the average day's 
march for a division of infantry under the most 
favorable circumstances. Yet that day we moved 
over eighteen miles, under disadvantages seldom en- 
countered. My first objective point in the move- 
ment was the right of the army. As it was in the 
morning of Sunday, my cavalry held the bridge over 
Owl Creek, within half a mile of Sherman's camp, 
which was the extreme right. Then, in the face of 
defeat. General Grant sent me orders to come to 
Pittsburg Landing by the lower road, and our des- 
perate efforts to reach him in good time drove us a 
long circuit entirely around the left of the rebel 



1^2 GENERAL GRANT. 

army. At dusk we were in position. Next morn- 
ing, in the gray of the dawn, we opened the battle 
and fought it through to the end. 

It is an admitted fact that ahiiost the same con- 
dition of things existed in the rear of the Confeder- 
ate army as was seen by General Buell when he ar- 
rived at Pittsburg Landing, with the addition of 
many others who had deserted their colors to plun- 
der the captured national camps. Had General Wal- 
lace continued on as he seriously contemplated 
doing, crossed Owd Creek, and made a vigorous 
assault with his five thousand veteran troops on the 
Confederate rear, while General Nelson wnth his 
fresh division pressed them in front, it is exceed- 
ingly doubtful if there would have been any fighting 
to be done on the following day. Two years later, 
at City Point, Grant told General Wallace that if 
he had known at Shiloh what he then knew, he 
(Grant) would have ordered Wallace to cross the 
Owl Creek bridge and attack the rear of the enemy. 
In a recent communication to the author. General 
Wallace writes: "Who shall tell the result had I 
been permitted to go on in my march? Many a 
time in my dreams I have beheld Thayer's deployed 
regiments moving through those tented streets, a 
wave crested with bayonets, and heard the demor- 
alized hordes rushing panic-struck upon their en- 
gaged lines. And still, in moments when personal 
ambition gets the better of me, I hold Rowley's 
coming my greatest quarrel with Fortune. Oh, if 
he had remained lost in the woods an hour longer! " 

When asked many months after the battle of 
Shiloh what event could have happened to have 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 143 

changed the result, General Grant answered that 
had either himself or General Sherman been seri- 
ously wounded before the formation of the last line 
near the river was completed, between four and five 
o'clock, the field would probably have been lost; 
but that had the veteran division of Wallace, with 
their five thousand muskets, reached the scene of 
the struggle at the time above mentioned, the Con- 
federates would have been defeated and driven back 
so far before nightfall that there would have been 
no battle on the following day. Grant was deeply 
disappointed in not being permitted to pursue the 
enemy vigorously. After Shiloh he became con- 
vinced that the war would never cease until the 
armies of the South were destroyed, and that they, 
rather than cities and territories, should be the chief 
objects of the strategy which controlled the more 
numerous forces and greatly superior resources of 
the Government. 



CHAPTER VII. 

lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 

On the nth of April General Halleck arrived 
at Pittsburg Landing and assumed command of the 
united Armies of the Tennessee and Ohio. The 
forces were reorganized and called the Army of the 
Mississippi. General Thomas commanded the 
right, composed mostly of Grant's troops, Buell 
the left, and General Pope commanded the center, 
consisting chiefly of troops which accompanied 
him from Island No. lo, while McClernand was as- 
signed to the command of the reserve, composed 
of his and Wallace's divisions. Grant was named 
second in conmiand of the whole, and was also 
supposed to be in command of the right wing and 
reserve, but was really in disgrace after the arrival 
of Halleck, who was known in the large army of 
about one hundred and twenty thousand men as ■ 

" Old Brains." Although Thomas, commanding ^ 

the right wing, and General McClernand, the re- 
serves, were Grant's subordinates, orders were, con- 
trary to military usages, sent directly to them with- 
out his being made aware of their contents, and 
movements were executed by his own troops with- 
144 



lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 145 

out his knowledge. Grant writes: "Orders were 
given to all commanders engaged at Shiloh to send 
in their reports to department headquarters. Those 
from the Army of the Tennessee were sent through 
me, but from the Army of the Ohio they were sent 
by General Buell. without passing through my 
hands. General Halleck ordered me verbally to 
send in my report, but I positively declined, on the 
ground that he had received the reports of a part 
of the army engaged at Shiloh without their com- 
ing through me. He admitted that my refusal was 
justifiable under the circumstances, but explained 
that he wanted to get the reports ofT before moving 
the command, and as fast as a report had come 
to him he had forwarded it to Washington." 

Everything being in readiness, Halleck's Army 
of the Mississippi, reorganized in sixteen divisions, 
moved forward, on April 30th, to drive Beauregard 
and the Confederate forces from their strongly forti- 
fied position at Corinth. The exterior line of the 
national army was fifteen miles long, and at every 
road crossing there were either strong redoubts or 
batteries with massive epaulements, while the troops 
under the Confederate general's command num- 
bered at least forty thousand less than the army led 
by General Halleck. On the 3d of May our ad- 
vance reached a point eight miles from Corinth, 
and the same day a portion of Pope's command cap- 
tured Farmington, abandoned after slight resist- 
ance on the part of the enemy, nearly five thousand 
strong. The Union army moved forward slowly 
under Halleck's Fabian policy, using the spade for 
the first time in Western campaigning, no advance 



146 GENERAL GRANT. 

being made without intrenchments, as the cautious 
commander did not propose that the Confederates 
should steal upon him unawares. Our army was 
anxious to push forward and attack Beauregard, 
whom we so largely outnumbered, but when Grant 
ventured while at headquarters, and the subject of 
the evacuation of Corinth was being discussed, to 
recommend an immediate attack on the extreme 
right of the Union line, where the enemy's ranks 
were weakened, to be followed by an assault along 
the whole line, his advice was scouted by Halleck, 
who suggested that General Grant's opinions need 
not be offered until asked for, and, in accordance 
with this intimation, he did not again during the 
siege obtrude them. It may be here remarked that 
after Corinth fell, and Grant had entered the Con- 
federate works, he satisfied himself beyond all doubt 
that, had the attack been made as he suggested, 
the place might have been taken and its army de- 
stroyed or captured. 

On May 30th the Army of the Mississippi was 
drawn up in line of battle awaiting the Confederate 
onset, the commanding general having announced 
on the morning of May 30th to his command, that 
" there is every indication that the enemy will attack 
our left this morning," it was suddenly discovered 
that the birds were flown, leaving quaker guns and 
barren defenses to impose upon us as long as pos- 
sible. The evacuation had been going on for two 
days, but it was not discovered until clouds of smoke 
and sheets of flame announced that Beauregard, be- 
fore retreating, had fired the town. As his rear 
guard moved out on the southern road, our advance 



lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 147 

moved in. Buell and Pope were sent in pursuit, 
but accomplished little, and, after a fruitless chase 
of ten days, were recalled to Corinth. The former 
was soon after detached and sent to Chattanooga, 
Pope was ordered to Virginia, and General Grant 
established his headquarters at Memphis, captured, 
June 6th, after a brilliant naval combat on the 
Mississippi. 

Before his departure for Memphis General 
Grant's humiliating position in Halleck's army be- 
came intolerable, and he applied for leave to visit 
St. Louis, which was granted. Sherman, before 
leaving Corinth on a short expedition, called to take 
leave of General Halleck, who casually mentioned 
that Grant was going away the next morning. Gen- 
eral Sherman inquired the cause, and was told that 
he did not know, but that Grant had asked for and 
received leave of absence for thirty days. " Of 
course we all knew," writes Sherman, " that he was 
chafing under the slights of his anomalous position, 
and I determined to see him on my way back. His 
camp was a short distance ofif the Monterey road, 
in the woods, and consisted of four or five tents, 
with a sapling railing around the front. As I rode 
up. Majors Rawlins, Lagow, and Hillyer were in 
front of the camp, and piled up near them was the 
usual office and camp chests all ready for a start 
in the morning. I inquired for the general, and was 
shown to his tent, where I found him seated on a 
camp stool with papers on a rude camp table " (it 
consisted of a board resting on two empty barrels — 
Author), " and tying them up with red tape in con- 
venient bundles. After passing the usual compli- 



148 GENERAL GRANT. 

ments, I inquired if it was true that he was going 
away. He said ' Yes.' I then inquired the reason, 
and he said, ' Sherman, you know. You know that 
I am in the way here. 1 have stood it as long as 1 
can, and can endure it no longer.' I inquired where 
he was going, and he answered, ' St. Louis." I then 
asked if he had any business there, and he said, ' Not 
a bit.' I then begged him to stay, ilhistrating his 
case by my own. Before the battle of Shiloh I had 
been cast down by a mere newspaper assertion of 
' crazy,' but that single battle had given me new life, 
and I was now in high feather; and I argued with 
him that, if he went away, events would go right 
along, and he would be left out, whereas, if he re- 
mained, some happy accident might restore him 
to favor and to his true place. He certainly appre- 
ciated my friendly advice, and promised to wait 
awhile; at all events, not to go without seeing me 
again or communicating with me. Very soon after 
this I was ordered to Chewalla, where, on the 6th 
of June, I received a note from him saying that he 
had reconsidered his intention, and would remain." * 
On July nth General Halleck was assigned to 
the command of " the whole land forces of the 
United States as general in chief," and immediately 
repaired to Washington, at the same time directing 
Grant to leave Alemphis and establish his head- 
quarters at Corinth. His jurisdiction was not, how- 
ever, enlarged by Hallcck's promotion; on the con- 
trary, as we learn from the following letter, the new 
general in chief first offered the command of tJic 

* Memoirs of General Sherman, vol. i, p. 2S3. 



^ 



lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 149 

Army of the Tennessee not to Buell, or Thomas, 
or Sherman, or Nelson, or McClernand, but to 
Colonel Robert Allen, a quartermaster, who de- 
clined it, whereupon Grant was permitted to retain 
the command. Allen's letter, dated July 9, 1866, 
giving an account of the manner in which the posi- 
tion was offered to him, is as follows: " I had joined 
General Halleck a short time subsequent to the fall 
of Corinth, and was attached to his immediate com- 
mand, when he received the appointment of gen- 
eral in chief, with orders to repair at once to Wash- 
ington. Shortly after, he came to my tent. . . . 
After a somewhat protracted conversation, he 
turned to me and said, ' Now what can I do for 
yotif I replied that I did not know that he could 
do anything. * Yes/ he rejoined, ' I can give you 
command of this army.' I replied, ' I have not 
rank.' ' That,' said he, ' can easily be obtained.' I 
do not remember exactly what my reply was to this, 
but it was to the effect that I doubted the expedi- 
ency of such a measure, identified as I was with 
the enormous business and expenditures of the 
quartermaster's department, from which it was al- 
most impracticable to relieve me at that time. Other 
reasons were mentioned, and he did not press the 
subject. It is true that I was congratulated on the 
prospect of succeeding to the command before I 
had mentioned the subject of this interview." 

While General Grant's headquarters were at 
Memphis it bid fair, with its swarms of crafty seces- 
sionists, speculators, gamblers, and unprincipled 
Jewish traders, to be of more value to the rebels 
than when held bv the insurgents themselves, in- 



150 GENERAL GRANT. 

asmuch as everything in the way of supplies which 
the enemy needed was smuggled through the lines 
to them. This business was carried on in good part 
by Jews, desperate for gain, who often succeeded 
in passing our pickets under cover of night. ]\Iany 
a midnight chase the writer and the cavalry regi- 
ment he had the honor to command has had after 
the Memphis smugglers, and many an ambulance, 
drawn by a pair of horses or mules, and loaded down 
with well-filled trunks, containing medicine and 
other contraband articles, did the troopers of the 
Fifteenth Illinois capture, which were endeavoring 
to escape to the Confederates, after evading the 
cavalry and infantry pickets posted around Mem- 
phis. General Grant issued various stringent or- 
ders regarding slaves, treasonable traders, and guer- 
rillas — all clear and statesmanlike. 

The disposition made of fugitive negroes was 
practical — they were put to useful employment and 
kindly treated while awaiting the further action of 
the Government concerning them. This was be- 
fore the country had been educated to the propriety 
of putting guns in their hands. The illicit traffic 
was gradually broken up, and Memphis ceased to 
be a base of supplies for the enemy; disloyal utter- 
ances by the press were discontinued, and quiet and 
order reigned in the city. 

A few miles out of Memphis was the beautiful 

residence of a wealthy lawyer named L . On 

his plantation was encamped a brigade of our 
troops, and it was deemed a military necessity that 
the grand old elms and oaks should be cut down. 
As the Southern owner, notwitlistanding his ap- 



lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 151 

peals that his trees might be spared, saw them 
falling around him until not a single one was 
left, his mind was so afifected that his reason grad- 
ually gave way, and he became a hopeless idiot. 
When the brigade commander was asked by the 
writer why he could not have spared the trees, his 
answer was brief — but four words — " 'Twas a mili- 
tary necessity." 

The period from July 17th, when General Hal- 
leck departed for Washington, to the battle of Cor- 
inth on October 3d, was one of great care and 
anxiety to Grant — the most anxious and harassing 
period of the war to him, he remarks in his Me- 
moirs. His forces had been taken from him to re- 
enforce Buell, then beginning his advance on Chat- 
tanooga, and he was left to defend a large area of 
country exposed at various points to incursions 
from the enemy, and inhabited by a population un- 
friendly to the Union, who might be trusted to con- 
vey to his opponents immediate and minute intel- 
ligence of his every movement. Until September 
he was occupied with what might be termed the 
civil affairs of his district, but early in the latter 
month he learned that Generals Van Dorn and 
Price were moving north, evidently upon Corinth, 
in pursuance of a concerted plan for an advance all 
along the Confederate line from the Mississippi to 
the Atlantic seaboard. 

It was a dark hour for the Union cause. On 
the left, Pope had been defeated in Virginia, and 
Lee was invading Maryland. In the center, Buell 
was falling back on Louisville, with Bragg, in com- 
mand of a large force, advancing by parallel roads 



152 



GENERAL GRANT. 



and aiming for the Ohio River. If Grant conld be 
driven back, the Union Hne would stand precisely 
where it was when the conflict began two years be- 
fore. General Grant was aware of this, and it in- 
creased vastly his sense of responsibility. He had 
sent so many men to Bnell that he had but fifty 
thousand in his command. Of tbese two divisions 
were at Corinth and supporting points. There were 
also at Corinth Davies's division, two brigades of 
Mcx^rthur's division, with cavalry and artillery, the 
whole commanded by Rosecrans, and forming 
Grant's left wing. His center, extending from 
Bethel to Humboldt on the ^Mobile and Alabama 
Railroad, and from Jackson to Bolivar, where the 
Mississippi Central crosses the Hatchie River, was 
commanded by General Ord. Sherman held the 
right at Memphis, having two of his brigades at 
Brownsville, where the Hatchie is crossed by the 
Memphis and Ohio Railroad. These places were 
held not so much from their strategic importance, 
but because the troops could be easily concentrated 
from them at any threatened point. 

By the 12th all of Rosecrans's force had been 
combined at Corinth, except a small detachment 
under Colonel R. C. Murphy, of the Eighth Wis- 
consin, which had been detailed to guard the stores 
at luka, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, 
twenty miles from Corinth. Affairs were in this 
posture when, on the 13th, Price's forces occupied 
Tuka, driving out Colonel ]\lurphy and his handful 
of men. Grant rightly divined that Price's object 
was to re-enforce Bragg in Tennessee. Van Dorn 
was but a few davs' march behind with a large force, 



lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 153 

evidently aiming to join Price at Corinth, where 
their two routes would converge. 

Grant resolved to attack Price before Van Dorn 
could reach him. The forces at Bolivar and the 
supporting points were concentrated at Corinth. 
Then Ord was sent by rail to Burnsville, about 
seven miles west of luka, with orders to attack 
Price from the northwest, while Rosecrans was 
to move from his position south of Corinth by the 
Fulton road, which enters luka from the east, and 
attack from that cjuarter. A smaller column was 
to move from Rosecrans's position by the Jacinto 
road and attack from the northeast. 

Ord arrived at his position on the i8th, and 
there intrenched, as ordered, waiting until Rosen- 
crans should come up on the morning of the 19th, 
when a simultaneous attack was to be made. Grant 
remained at Burnsville with nine hundred men in 
easy communication by courier with his wings, fol- 
lowing the movements of Van Dorn, and prepared 
to checkmate a possible movement of the latter 
against Corinth should he attempt it. Ord met the 
enemy in his advance from Burnsville, but drove 
them back, and, as before remarked, was ready to 
attack at the appointed hour. Rosecrans, how- 
ever, failed to come up in time. About midnight 
Grant received a dispatch from him, saying that he 
was at Jacinto, twenty-two miles from luka, that his 
command had been delayed, but that he would 
reach luka by two o'clock next day. Grant doubted 
this, but sent the dispatch to Ord, with orders to 
attack the moment he heard guns to the south or 
southeast. He waited all day of the 19th, with no 



154 



GENERAL GRANT. 



news of Rosecrans; the latter, on reaching' Bar- 
nets, where the Jacinto road to luka left the road 
running east, moved his whole column by that road, 
not sending any troops by the Fulton road, reason- 
ing, perhaps, that it was a roundabout course, and 
would consume too much time. 

While moving up the Jacinto road General 
Rosecrans met a force of the enemy, and was 
beaten back, losing many men and a battery. The 
wind was blowing hard from the north, so that 
neither Grant nor Ord heard the guns of this action, 
and the former was only apprised of it by the arrival 
of a courier late at night. He at once directed Ord 
to attack in the morning. But Rosecrans's failure 
to throw troops into the Fulton road had left that 
way of escape open, and during the night Price re- 
treated by it and joined \^an Dorn and Lovell in 
Tippah County, Mississippi, whence the united 
force moved on Corinth. After the engagement 
Grant issued an address to the army, concluding- 
with these words, " While congratulating the noble 
living, it is meet to offer our condolences to the 
friends of the heroic dead, who offered their lives 
a sacrifice in defense of constitutional liberty, and in 
their fall rendered memorable the field of luka." 

Grant was for some time uncertain where the 
blow would fall, but, when it became evident that 
Corinth would be attacked, he ordered General 
McPherson, who was at Jackson, to collect his 
scattered detachments along the railroad and join 
Rosecrans at Corinth, while Ord and Hurlbut 
were directed to advance from r>olivar by way of 
Pocahontas, and be prepared to attack General Van 



i 



lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 155 

Dorn in flank or rear should they not be in time 
to enter the town. 

The battle of Corinth was begun by the Con- 
federates on October 2d, but was confined on that 
day to the preliminary skirmishing which is usu- 
ally the avant courricr of a conflict. The next day 
the battle was begun in earnest, and our troops 
who had occupied advanced positions were driven 
back, with considerable confusion and loss, to the 
works around Corinth, which the forethought of 
Grant had ordered to be constructed when he as- 
sumed command in July. These fortifications un- 
doubtedly saved the army on the evening of the 3d. 
On the following morning the enemy, in high spirits 
from the successes of the previous day, renewed 
the battle with great fierceness. This column 
charged again and again, only to be driven back, 
shattered and bleeding. Still again, they are urged 
forward by their leaders, and the men come up with 
their faces averted as if striving to protect them- 
selves against a driving storm of hail, and finally 
" the ragged head of the column " penetrate our 
ranks, but are quickly driven back and over the 
broad glacis with severe loss. Our regiments, 
swarming over their works, chase the broken frag- 
ments of the Confederate column back to the works ; 
many crouching in the abatis surrender at discre- 
tion. Thus ended, about noon, the fiercely con- 
tested battle of Corinth. 

The general, in his address to his army, said: 
" The enemy chose his own time and place of at- 
tack, and knowing the troops of the West as he 
docs, and with great facilities for knowing their 



156 GENERAL GRANT. 

numbers, never would have made the attempt ex- 
cept with a superior force numerically. But for the 
undaunted bravery of officers and soldiers, who 
have yet to learn defeat, the efforts of the enemy 
must have proven successful." 

The enemy retreated to the Hatchie, about ten 
miles distant, and w^ere there struck by Hurlbut 
and Ord, as (jrant had planned, and lost numerous 
men and guns, and had Rosecrans pursued as in- 
structed, the whole Confederate army would have 
been destroyed or captured. As it was, by the delay 
of Rosecrans to pursue. Van Dorn and Price suc- 
ceeded in getting away with such of their forces as 
had escaped death and capture. General Grant 
closed his dispatch to Washington communicating 
his success with these words, " I have strained 
everything to take into the fight an adequate force, 
and to get them in the right place." No sooner 
had the good news been received at the capital than 
the President sent over the wires to General Grant 
the following message: " I congratulate you and 
all concerned in your recent battles and victories. 
How does it all sum up? I especially regret the 
death of General Hackleman, and am very anxious 
to know the condition of General Oglesby, who is 
an intimate personal friend." The significant in- 
quiry, " How does it all sum up?" may be briefly 
answered. The enemy's loss was upward of eight 
thousand in killed, wounded, and prisoners, to- 
gether with numerous guns and standards, while 
those who escaped were very greatly demoralized 
by their repeated defeats and by the pursuit which 
was continued by the entire army for forty miles. 



lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 157 

and by the cavalry for sixty. luka, Corinth, and 
the Hatchie reheved Grant's inadequate forces, 
which he handled with such consummate skill, from 
all immediate danger, and relieved for a time west- 
ern Tennessee from the tread of hostile forces. 

Among the heroic regiments that served at Cor- 
inth was the Eighth Iowa, whose stalwart standard 
bearer carried a living and noble specimen of an 
American eagle in the place of a flag. The latter 
would fly off over the battlefield during the san- 
guinary struggle, and then return and perch upon 
the small platform at the end of his pole, clap his 
pinions, and then sail grandly -aloft, accompanied 
by the cheers of the regiment, always returning to 
his post, seemingly regardless of the screaming shot 
and shell or the ping of the hailstorm of bullets. 

In October Rosecrans was assigned to the com- 
mand of the Department of the Ohio, superseding 
Buell, and Grant's command, the Department of 
the Tennessee, was considerably enlarged. It in- 
cluded Cairo, Forts Henry and Donelson, northern 
Mississippi, and those portions of Kentucky and 
Tennessee west of the river of that name. His 
headquarters were continued at Jackson, from 
which point he could best direct, organize, and 
overlook his colossal command. Re-enforcements 
and supplies were now forwarded to him with a 
view to making a march into the interior of Missis- 
sippi and capturing the Western Gibraltar, as 
the Confederates vaingloriously called Vicksburg. 
Grant now divided his department into four dis- 
tricts, and assigned the four divisions of his army 
as follows: Sherman, with the first division, com- 



158 GENERAL GRANT. 

manded the district of ^lemphis; Hurlbut, with 
the second, that of Jackson ; the district of Corinth, 
by Hamilton, with the third division; and that of 
Cohnnbus was in command of Davis, with the 
fourth. Grant's great administrative abihties were 
now displayed in preparations for the new cam- 
paign, and perhaps the most brilhant in the annals 
of the civil war of 1861-65. 

Before entering upon another chapter, in which 
will be told the story of this famous siege, we must 
again recur to the groundless stories, which con- 
tinued to obtain circulation, concerning General 
Grant's habits of self-indulgence. It is difficult to 
ascertain the precise truth with regard to the private 
personal habits of men who have become distin- 
guished in public affairs. The tongue of slander 
is busy against them, and, on the other hand, a 
zealous partisanship is always ready to magnify 
their virtues and to cover or deny their faults. No 
charge is more common against eminent Americans 
than that of intemperance; and it is far easier to 
make such an accusation, and to gain credence for 
it in the public mind, than to disprove it by com- 
petent and available testimony. In the early stages 
of the war, the ready solution of a defeat to the 
Union arms was the inebriety of the command- 
ing general. Banks was intoxicated at the Sabine 
Cross Roads; Hooker was under the influence of 
stimulants at Chancellorsville; Grant was drunk at 
Shiloh, at least during the disaster of the first day; 
and now rumours were again current about the gen- 
eral's free indulgence in whisky. Like Banquo's 
ghost, tiicy would not down. Tnnuenccs were again 



lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 159 

at work at Washington to have Grant removed 
from his command, but the witty reply of the Presi- 
dent after the victory at Corinth, " I wish that all 
the generals would drink Grant's whisky," showed 
how little credit he gave to the slanders. Some one 
was disparaging Grant in Sherman's presence, when 
the latter broke out with, " It won't do, sir, it won't 
do; Grant is a great general. He stood by me when 
I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, 
and now, sir, we stand by each other," by which 
he, of course, intended to convey the impression 
that he no more believed his commander to be a 
drunkard than he believed himself to be insane. 
This hue and cry against Grant was chiefly the work 
of newspaper correspondents and the adherents of 
less successful soldiers or political leaders, who 
wished to aid their friends by defaming Grant, and 
it appeared to trouble him less than it did his ad- 
mirers and troops of friends in the Western armies. 
If any one repeated what was said by such a paper 
or person, he only — smoked. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 

On November 2d, having completed all his 
preparations, Grant began his movement against 
Vicksburg by an advance into Mississippi with a 
force of thirty thousand men. All his energies were 
now concentrated on the capture of the Confederate 
stronghold, the key to the navigation of the Father 
of Waters. To epitomize its great value, we may 
quote General Sherman's words, " The possession 
of the Mississippi is the possession of America." 
While General Grant steadily pushed the enemy 
south, other co-operating movements were being 
made against Vicksburg by his lieutenants. In 
Sherman's sententious words, " Grant moved di- 
rect on Pemberton, while I moved from Memphis, 
and a smaller force, under Washburne, struck di- 
rectly for Grenada; and the first thing Pem1)erton 
knew the depot of his supplies was almost in the 
grasp of a small cavalry force, and he fell back in 
confusion, and gave us the Tallahatchie without a 
liattlc." ( )n the 29th Grain's headcjuarters were at 
Holly Springs, and six days later he entered 
Oxford, with his cavalry at Coffeevillc, only cight- 
160 




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THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. i6l 

een miles from Grenada, the whole movement 
into Mississippi having been made without any 
serious fighting, and giving promise of the most 
complete success, when the cowardice and incapac- 
ity of Colonel Murphy, of the Eighth Wisconsin, 
who had been placed in command of Holly Springs, 
and who allowed this vast depot of supplies to be 
captured by the Confederates under Van Dorn 
without striking a blow in its defense, although 
previously warned that an attack was probable, de- 
ranged all Grant's admirably conceived plans for 
carrying Vicksburg, and rendered necessary a retro- 
grade movement. 

The enemy destroyed all the ordnance, subsist- 
ence, and quartermaster's stores accumulated there, 
valued at more than a million of dollars, and hastily 
evacuated the place before our troops fell back, as 
they were compelled to do. Murphy, the same 
ofificer who gave up luka to Price, was dismissed 
from the service. Had General Grant then known 
what he soon afterward learned, that an army could 
be subsisted without supplies other than those 
drawn from an enemy's country, he could have 
pushed on to the rear of Vicksburg, and probably 
have succeeded in capturing the place. Not know- 
ing this fact, he fell back to Holly Springs, and or- 
dered forward other supplies. Sherman, in the 
meantime, had moved down to Milliken's Bend, 
and not hearing from Grant, who was unable to 
communicate with him, made his unsuccessful as- 
sault at Chickasaw Bayou, but, after a three days' 
struggle, abandoned his attack against Vicksburg. 

The time for success in a movement southward 



1 62 GENERAL GRANT. 

by way of the Mississippi Central Railroad having 
passed, Grant gradually fell back with his army, 
and soon after removed his headquarters to Young's 
Point, a few miles above the city of Vicksburg, on 
the west bank of the Mississippi, and assumed per- 
sonal control of operations. At this moment, Janu- 
ary 30, 1863, the actual siege of Vicksburg began. 
The city was deemed by its defenders impregnable. 
It occupied the first high land or bluffs commanding 
the river below Memphis, and, in addition, was sur- 
rounded by such a network of rivers, bayous, and 
impassable swamps as to be unapproachable by 
land. The Yazoo, a large but sluggish river, flow- 
ing from the east, enters the ^Mississippi nine miles 
above A'icksburg. A series of blufifs on the east 
bank of the Yazoo left the latter river at Haines's 
Bluff, eleven miles above Mcksburg, and stretched 
across the neck of the peninsula formed by the junc- 
tion of the Yazoo and Mississippi, striking the 
latter river at Vicksburg, and continuing down its 
left bank to Warrenton, six miles below. 

There were heavy batteries at Haines's Blufif, 
and the high land from there to \'icksburg and 
thence to Warrenton was covered with batteries and 
rille pits at suitable distances. The only approach 
to these batteries was through the swamps and 
marshes before described, and was rendered still 
more difficult at this time l)y the unpreccdentedly 
high stage of water in the ^Mississippi, and which 
continued until the middle of April. The course 
of the Mississippi below \'icksburg is one of zig- 
zags, the river flowing now east, now west through 
alluvial l)()ttoms, often at riglit angles with its gen- 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 163 

eral course. One of these bends began at Young's 
Point, where Grant had estabhshed his headquar- 
ters, the river at that point flowing due east until 
it struck the bluff on which \^icksburg stands, when 
it turned and flowed west by south, forming an 
acute angle, with the apex at Vicksburg and the 
base at Young's Point. This angle was scarcely a 
mile in width, and naval vessels attempting to run 
the batteries could be fired upon by guns at War- 
renton across it miles before they came in range 
of the forts at Vicksburg. 

The great problem that confronted Grant and 
his generals was the gaining a foothold on this high 
land east of the Mississippi. Several plans were 
considered. One was to return to Memphis, fortify 
it as a base of supplies, thence move south along 
the railroad to Jackson, Miss., and march upon 
Vicksburg from the rear or east. But this would 
involve a retrograde movement, and Grant dreaded 
its effect upon the loyal North. The nation almost 
despaired at this time, so great had been the re- 
verses of the year, of ultimate success in the war 
that kept the Union whole. Enlistments had almost 
wholly ceased. The elections of 1862 had gone 
against the Union party, and a retreat at this junc- 
ture, he reasoned, would be contributing aid and 
comfort to the enemy. 

The second plan was to cut a canal across the 
bend at Young's Point to the river below, pass his 
army through it on transports, and then effect a 
lodgment below. A canal had been cut across the 
neck the year before by General Williams, with the 
expectation that, in the annual rise of the Missis- 



164 GENERAL GRANT. 

sippi, the current would form a new channel; but 
the canal had been begun at a point of the stream 
where there was an eddy, and this result had not 
followed. A force of four thousand men was now 
set to enlarging the canal, and continued until 
March 8th, when a flood in the river swept away a 
dam which had been built at the entrance to keep 
back the water, and work was suspended. Had 
it been completed, it is doubtful if it would have 
proved effective, as nearly its whole course was 
within range of the lower batteries at Warrenton. 

The third plan was to march his army across 
the base of the peninsula on the west bank to a 
point below the fortifications, and then transport 
them by steamers to the eastern bank. For the 
success of the latter plan two things were essential — 
a lower stage of water and the presence of gun- 
boats and steamers below Vicksburg for support 
and ferriage purposes. These Admiral David D. 
Porter (1813-91) undertook to supply by running 
the gantlet of the batteries with his ironclad gun- 
boats and transports. The last-named plan was 
eventually adopted. 

By the 1st of April the water had so far fallen 
that the roads across the peninsula behind the levees 
of the bayous began to emerge, and preparations 
for the final movement were made. Porter himself 
undertook to prepare his steamers for the perilous 
enterprise. Their boilers and engines were the 
chief points to be protected, and this he elTected 
by raising along the boiler deck a rani])art of bales 
of hay and cotton and bags of grain. \\y April i6th 
the fleet was ready for the attempt. It consisted 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 165 

of the flagship Benton, commanded by Porter in 
person, the Lafayette, with the steamer Price 
lashed to her side, the Louisville, ]\Iound City, Pitts- 
burg, and Carondelet gunboats. Following these 
came the transports Forest Queen, Silver Wave, 
and Henry Clay, each towing barges laden with 
coal for the use of the steamers when they should 
arrive below. Behind the barges was the gunboat 
Tuscumbia, bringing up the rear. 

It was ten o'clock on a moonlight night when 
the fleet left Milliken's Bend, a few miles above 
Young's Point, and proceeded down the river. 
General Grant witnessed the result from the deck 
of a transport pushed out into the stream as near 
the batteries as prudence dictated. The dark hulls 
of the boats were plainly discernible in the moon- 
light, and the puffs of their exhaust pipes could be 
heard three miles away. Soon came a flash from 
a battery near Warrenton, and a solid shot whistled 
across the peninsula. Then followed a rocket from 
the upper batteries, and soon their guns joined in 
the grand chorus. The gunboats replied, seeming 
to vomit fire from sulphurous stomachs of smoke. 

The blufifs and the city behind were revealed by 
murky flashes, and a rain of fire poured upon the 
devoted fleet, while mimic waterspouts sprang 
from the bosom of the river at the bursting of the 
shells. Soon a ten-inch shell pierced the boiler of 
the Henry Clay, and she blew up with a tremendous 
explosion, communicating fire not only to herself, 
but to the barges in tow, thus adding the terrors of 
conflagration to the scene. The enemy, too, lighted 
bonfires on the east bank, and set fire to houses on 



l66 GENERAL GRANT. 

the west shore to reveal the forms of the vessels. 
The critical moment came when the boats turned 
the point of the angle at Vicksburg, for there they 
met the concentrated fire of nearly all the batteries. 
Their hulls were pierced and torn until in places 
they resembled sieves, but only the Henry Clay 
was disabled, and, after bearing the hurricane of 
fire for more than two hours, the steamers came 
safely to anchor below the city. 

Before this, on March 29th, McClernand, with 
his corps of four divisions, had been sent to seize 
New Carthage, on the west bank, some twenty- 
seven miles below Milliken's Bend in a straight 
line, though the troops were forced to march fully 
forty. He found the roads along the levee very bad. 
At Bayou Vidal, several miles above New Carthage, 
the levee had been cut, overflowing the roads for 
two miles. Troops and artillery were ferried across 
the crevasse, and on April 6th McClernand seized 
and held New Carthage with one division and its 
artillery. Here Grant visited him on the 17th, after 
Admiral Porter's success had made his plans feasi- 
ble, and saw that some more expeditious method 
must be devised for transferring his army. Mc- 
Clernand's engineers, under Lieutenant Hains, had 
already surveyed a new route from above the cre- 
vasse to a point on the Mississippi some ten miles 
below New Carthage. To open this route four 
bridges across bayous — two of them six hundred 
feet long — must be built out of such crude mate- 
rial as was at hand, l)ut the resources of the North- 
ern soldier were ecjual to the task, the bridges were 
built, and the whole army, with cavalry, artillery, 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 167 

and wag-on trains, crossed them without mishap 
save the loss of a heavy thirty-two-pounder, which 
broke through the only pontoon bridge on the 
difficult route. 

On April 20th Grant issued his order for the 
change of base to the east side of the river, and the 
final investment of Mcksburg began. McClernand's 
Thirteenth Army Corps was to constitute the right 
wing- in these operations, the Fifteenth Corps, under 
Sherman, the left wing, and the Seventeenth, Mc- 
Pherson's, the center. Reserves w^ere to be formed 
by divisions from each army corps. The soldiers 
marched light. One tent only was allowed each 
company for protection of rations against rain, one 
w^all tent for each regimental, brigade, and division 
headquarters. As fast as the Thirteenth Corps ad- 
vanced, its place was to be taken by the Seven- 
teenth, and that was to be followed closely by the 
Fifteenth. Two regiments were to be detailed to 
guard the lines from Richmond to New Carthage, 
and general hospitals were established between 
Duckport and Milliken's Bend. 

McClernand's corps, as we have seen, was al- 
ready below the city. Two of McPherson's di- 
visions marched immediately. The third was on its 
way from Lake Providence, where it had been sent 
to guard stores, and orders were left for it to join 
the main body on its arrival. Sherman's divisions, 
one each at Duckport and Young's Point, and one 
recalled from an expedition to Greenville, Miss., to 
silence a Confederate battery there, were ordered 
to follow McPherson. Six more steamers, bear- 
ing supplies and having twelve barges in tow laden 



l68 GENERAL GRANT. 

with rations, attempted to run the batteries on the 
night of April 22d. One steamer was sunk and 
about half the barges, but the others proved a wel- 
come re-enforcement. 

Reconnoissances showed no practicable land- 
ing place on the east bank above Grand Gulf, some 
twenty-two miles below New Carthage. The army 
accordingly rendezvoused at a little hamlet called 
Hard Times, on the west bank, nearly opposite 
Grand Gulf, ten thousand of the men being sent 
down on the boats, the rest marching by land 
through swamps and over bayous, which had been 
bridged by the engineer corps. 

By April 27th, Grant's birthday, General Mc- 
Clernand's corps was at Hard Times, with ]Mc- 
Pherson's in supporting distance. Grand Gulf was 
on a high bluiT, and so fortified as to be almost im- 
pregnable to a front attack. The place for its cap- 
ture, as arranged by General Grant and Admiral 
Porter in unison, was for the latter to attack with 
his entire strength of eight gunboats, and silence 
the river batteries if possible, whereupon McCler- 
nand's corps, which was to be embarked on trans- 
ports for the purpose, was to effect a landing and 
storm the defenses. At 8 a. m. on the 29th Porter 
attacked, but, after a furious bombardment of five 
and a half hours, withdrew, not having silenced a 
single gun. It was evident that the works were too 
strong to be carried by a direct attack. 

That night Porter ran the batteries with his gun- 
boats and transports. Grant, under cover of the 
darkness, marched his troops across the neck of 
land oj^positc Grand Gulf, and embarked them on 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 169 

the transports, barges, and gunboats, which then 
moved down the river to effect a landing wherever 
a feasible one presented itself. A negro had told 
them of a safe landing place at Bruinsburg, some 
three miles below, whence a good road led to Port 
Gibson, twelve miles in the interior over the bluffs 
before described, which were here about two miles 
back from the river. The army landed there with- 
out opposition on the morning of April 30th. 

It was one of the boldest strategic movements 
in the history of modern warfare. Grant had with 
him twenty thousand men. \'icksburg lay between 
him and his base of supplies. In his rear rolled the 
wide river. At Grand Gulf, Haines's Bluff, and 
Jackson, fifty miles east of Mcksburg, and con- 
nected with it by rail, the enemy had nearly sixty 
thousand men, all of whom could be massed against 
him by lines much shorter than his own. But his 
armv was on the east bank of the river. The initial 
point in his grand scheme of conquest had been 
gained. For the rest he trusted to his own genius 
and the gallantry of his troops. 

To keep the enemy's garrison at Haines's Bluff 
employed, General Sherman, who was still at Milli- 
ken's Bend, was directed to ascend the Yazoo to 
the bluff and attack it, which he did with excellent 
results, the enemy being su confused by the feint 
as to hold their forces in the earthworks instead of 
dispatching them against Grant below. The first 
move of the latter was to reduce Grand Gulf for use 
as a base of operations. The high land two miles 
to the eastward before mentioned was the first point 
to be gained in this movement. It had not yet 



170 



GENERAL GRANT. 



been occupied by the enemy from Grand Gulf, be- 
cause the Bayou Pierre, a navigable stream, en- 
tered the Mississippi between them and Bruinsburg, 
and there was no bridge nearer than Port Gibson 
by which they could cross. 

As soon as ammunition and two days' rations 
could be issued to ^IcClernand's command, he ad- 
vanced, seized the heights, and pushed on, hoping 
to reach Port Gibson and hold the bridge there over 
the Bayou Pierre before the enemy could come up. 
The latter met him, however, at Thompson's planta- 
tion, five miles west of Port Gibson. Had the place 
been laid out by an engineer corps, it could not 
have been more favorable for defense. It com- 
prised a succession of wooded ridges parallel to 
each other, with deep ravines between the latter 
so choked with thickets of vines and canebrakes 
as to be almost impenetrable. Xear Thompson's 
the road to Port Gibson forked, the two branches 
running parallel about a mile apart and uniting as 
they reached the town. Here the Confederate Gen- 
eral Bowen, with his Grand Gulf garrison of some 
eight thousand men, had made a stand. The two 
roads rendered it necessary for McClernand to di- 
vide his force, Hovey's, Carr's, and A. J. Smith's 
divisions being sent by the right-hand road, and 
Osterhaus's by the left. The first-named divisions 
succeeded in holding their own under Bowen's at- 
tack, but Osterhaus was repulsed. 

At about 10 A. M. General Grant himself came 
up and assumed command. He ordered McPher- 
son, who was close in the rear with two brigades of 
Logan's division, to send one brigade to support 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 171 

Osterhaus, and with the others to move to the left 
and flank the enemy's position. As soon as the sup- 
porting brigade arrived Osterhaus made a front at- 
tack, the enemy's right broke, followed soon by his 
left, and before sunset his whole army was in full 
retreat toward his fortifications at Grand Gulf. He 
did not even stop to contest the bridge crossing 
at Port Gibson — a fine strategic point — although 
he burned the bridge behind him, and next morn- 
ing General Grant occupied Port Gibson without 
resistance. 

Here the bold commander learned from South- 
ern papers of the complete success of Colonel Grier- 
son, who, with some seventeen hundred cavalry, 
had been sent to make a raid through central Mis- 
sissippi with the double design of distracting the 
enemy's attention from Grant and of destroying his 
railroads. From Port Gibson the army moved 
northward and eastward with a view to capturing 
Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, and thence by 
the Jackson and Vicksburg Railroad invest the 
latter city from the east. Finding a hostile army in 
his rear and the gunboat fleet in his front, General 
Bowen now evacuated Grand Gulf, and retreated 
to effect a junction with Pemberton at Vicksburg. 
Grant entered the place May 3d, and from its walls 
communicated with Sherman and other subordi- 
nate commanders who were still above on the west 
bank, ordering every man that could be spared to 
join him at Grand Gulf. Here also he received a 
dispatch from General Banks, who was on the Red 
River marching north to invest Port Hudson, and 
which stated that he could not possibly reach the 



1/2 



GENERAL GRANT. 



latter place before May loth, and then with but fif- 
teen thousand men. 

Until receipt of this letter Grant had intended to 
detach McClernand's corps and send it to co-operate 
with Banks for the reduction of Port Hudson. But 
the latter's delay and the smallness of his own force 
rendered this plan impracticable, and he relin- 
quished it for the bolder and more masterly one, 
heretofore unknown in the art of war, of cutting 
loose from his base, moving into the enemy's coun- 
try without supplies except those gathered by his 
foragers, and capturing Mcksburg by an attack 
from the rear. On the 7th Sherman arrived at 
Grand Gulf with his command, and the combined 
army moved upon the doomed city, skirmishing 
and fighting at many points, but never repulsed, 
and drawing ample and excellent supplies from 
the region traversed. 

The wagon train carrying ammunition only, and 
impressed from the neighboring plantations, would 
have moved motley himself to laughter. In its 
ranks might have been seen an elegant carriage, 
drawn by mules in plow harness, with rope lines 
and straw collars, and packed to the top with boxes 
of cartridges thrown in promiscuously in the hurry 
of the advance; creaking carts, drawn by patient 
oxen, and long wagons fitted with racks for trans- 
porting cotton bales, now loaded to their utmost 
capacity with munitions of war. No camp equipage 
or personal baggage was carried in the first days of 
this memorable march. Even the commander in 
chief was for a week without a change of linen. 
Many of the general officers marched on foot. The 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 173 

scenes along the way illustrated forcibly and sadly 
the horrors of war. 

The opposing forces outnumbered the invading 
column nearly two to one, and to the cautious Hal- 
leck and even the impetuous Sherman the move- 
ment seemed a foolhardy one. But Grant had care- 
fully estimated the risks, and beUeved he could 
conquer. General Pemberton's command was so 
scattered, he reasoned, that he could not attack with 
his whole array at any one time or place, and he 
(Grant) had so interposed his column between the 
former and the command of General Joseph E. 
Johnston (1809-91), then concentrating at Jackson, 
that concerted action between the two was impossi- 
ble. It was also a great advantage to Grant that, 
while he knew perfectly well where he. was going, 
the Confederate generals lacked this knowledge, 
and must be on the alert to defend many threatened 
points over a wide extent of territory. Adopting 
the same tactics, and by making use of the same 
uncertainty of his foes as to his objective point, 
Sherman later made his famous march to the sea. 

On May 14th, after a sharp action, Jackson was 
captured with seventeen guns and a number of 
prisoners, although Johnston succeeded in escap- 
ing with the main body of his army. By an inter- 
cepted dispatch Grant now learned that Johnston's 
design was to eiTect a junction with Pemberton, 
and so disposed his forces by a serious of ingenious 
manoeuvres that this plan was prevented. Pember- 
ton, marching east to effect this junction, was met 
at Champion Hill by the invading force, and a 
fiercely contested battle was fought, ending, how- 



174 



GENERAL GRANT. 



ever, in the utter rout of the Confederates, who lost 
three thousand men in killed and wounded, and 
the same number taken prisoners. Pemberton made 
another stand at the crossing of the Big- Black 
River — a position strong in natural defenses — but 
which was quickly carried by Lawlor's brigade of 
Carr's division. Had not the bridges over the Big 
Black been destroyed, it is probable the Union 
forces would have outmarched Pemberton's and 
gained the intrenchments at Mcksburg before 
them. Certain it is that there was no more fight- 
ing of moment until the Union forces had com- 
pletely invested the city, a corps on each of the three 
roads approaching the place from the north, east, 
and southeast. 

This occurred on Alay 19th, twenty days after 
the first crossing at Bruinsburg. As the two gen- 
erals. Grant and Sherman, from the line of circum- 
vallation looked down on Walnut Hills, where the 
latter had been repulsed the December previous, 
Sherman remarked that this was the greatest cam- 
paign in history, and that his superior ought to 
make a report of it at once. In twenty days Grant 
had marched two hundred miles through an ene- 
my's country, had beaten two armies in five battles, 
captured nearly one hundred cannon, and killed 
or made prisoners nearly twelve thousand of John- 
ston's and Pemberton's troops. An assault was or- 
dered this same day, with the hope of carrying the 
works before the enemy could recover from the 
demoralization of Champion Hill and the Big Black, 
but it resulted only in securing better positions for 
the operations of the army. On the night of the 





o 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 175 

2 1 St, for the first time in three weeks, the troops 
had full rations served to them. 

On May 22d General Grant decided to order a 
second assault all along the line, influenced by three 
reasons: First, the army believed it could carry the 
works, and, if not allowed to try, would not have 
endured so patiently the severe toil of the trenches; 
second, Johnston was in his rear, less than fifty 
miles distant, with a force constantly being added 
to by accessions, and there was danger of his com- 
ing to the garrison's relief; third, the capture of 
the stronghold would permit the re-enforcements 
destined for his army to be sent elsewhere, where 
they were urgently needed. The assault was or- 
dered for 10 A. M., and began with a furious can- 
nonade from every gun in position. Under cover 
of this artillery fire each corps assaulted simul- 
taneously, but, although the men behaved wnth the 
greatest gallantry, it was beyond human power to 
carry intrenchments so well planned and so ably 
defended, and after two trials the unsuccessful at- 
tempt was abandoned. 

Forty-six days of siege followed, of weary wait- 
ing on the part of the besieged for the aid that never 
came, of rearing earthworks and intrenchments, 
mounting cannon, building roads, sapping and min- 
ing, watching a powerful enemy in both front and 
rear along a line fifteen miles in length on the part 
of the besiegers. On the 3d of July, when the ap- 
proaches of the latter had reached to wuthin from 
five to one hundred yards of the enemy's works in 
a dozen different places, when his men were on the 
point of revolt from starvation, and when all hope 



I^g GENERAL GRANT. 

of aid from Johnston had fled, General Pemberton 
sent a flag of truce, asking for an armistice to ar- 
range terms of capitulation. 

Grant replied declining the armistice, but re- 
minding Pemberton that he could stop the useless 
effusion of blood, which in his letter he had ex- 
pressed a desire to do, by an unconditional sur- 
render of the city and garrison, adding that brave 
men such as his had shown themselves to be would 
be treated with all the respect due to prisoners of 
war. A meeting was arranged for the two com- 
manders on a hillside near the Confederate lines, 
under an ancient oak (to which the historical event 
proved fatal, since in a few days it was carried away 
by piecemeal for souvenirs). The tw^o generals had 
served together in the Mexican War, and their 
greeting was that of old acquaintances rather than 
of enemies. No agreement was reached at this 
interview, but on parting the Union general prom- 
ised to send his ultimatum that evening after a con- 
sultation with his corps and division connnanders. 

In this letter Grant, against the advice of his 
lieutenants, agreed to parole the entire force, al- 
lowing the officers to retain their side arms and 
clothing, and the field, stafif, and cavalry officers one 
horse each; the rank and file their clothing only, 
with as many rations from the stores surrendered 
as they needed for their journey to their homes. 
Thirty wagons for transporting the latter were als(j 
allowed. These terms were accepted, with the stipu- 
lation that the captured troops sliould be allowed to 
march out bv l)rigades with their colors and stack 
arms in front of their lines. Grant was led to give 




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THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 



177 



these favorable terms by the behef tliat nine tenths 
of the prisoners were weary of the war, and on 
being paroled would return to their homes and re- 
main there. 

Vicksburg, which had been a handsome city, 
with good public buildings and many fine resi- 
dences, surrounded with well-kept and beautiful 
gardens, had when the troops entered a neglected 
and war-worn appearance. Some degree of devas- 
tation marked almost every visible object, and in 
the exceptional cases one met with dust, decay, and 
neglect. Many houses were pierced by shot and shell. 
The pillars of piazzas were knocked down, and 
doors and windows smashed. The shops were all 
closed, and presented a shabby and deserted appear- 
ance, and in many of the streets one had to be on 
the qui vive to avoid falling into holes made by 
shells. The streets near to and running parallel 
with the river were barricaded by breastworks and 
rifle pits as a means of defense against attacks by 
the Union gunboats. 

At every available place caves were dug. In 
these caves, which varied greatly in size, the women 
and children sought shelter from shot and shell. 
The largest one in the city was that of Mr. T., 
being cut through a hill about a hundred feet in 
length. In this cave, through which a person 
could walk erect, were four apartments, the largest 
one being perhaps sixteen feet square, and furnished 
with a carpet, table, chairs, etc. Here his family, 
including several daughters, lived during the forty- 
six days that the siege continued. In another small- 
er room the servants were quartered. In the third 



178 



GENERAL GRANT. 



was stored their food and forage for the cow and 
hogs, quietly sojourning out of the way of all dan- 
ger in the next apartment. During the day many 
ladies issued from caves, taking their chances by 
successful dodges. We met two Vicksburg sisters 
who prided themselves upon their expertness in 
getting out of the way of Yankee shells, as if it 
were quite a ladylike accomplishment. 

When the news of the surrender of Vicksburg, 
with thirty thousand prisoners and nearly two hun- 
dred guns, reached Washington, Grant was immedi- 
ately made a major general in the regular army, 
a position which in the second year of the war he 
looked forward to as the height of earthly ambition. 
The general in chief in his annual report, in allud- 
ing to the campaign, thus speaks of Grant: " When 
we consider the character of the country in which 
the army operated, the formidable obstacles to be 
overcome, the number of forces, and the strength 
of the enemy's works, we can not fail to admire the 
courage and endurance of the troops and the skill 
and daring of their commander. No more brilliant 
exploit can be found in military history." It was 
this great victory that drew forth from the Presi- 
dent that gem of a letter,* which deserves to be 

* Executive Mansion, Washington, //^/y 13, 1863. 
Major-General Grant : 

My dear General — I do not remember that you and I ever 
met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment 
for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I 
wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity 
of Vicksburg I thought you should do what you finally did — 
march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the 
transports, ami thus go below — and I never liad any faith, except 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 179 

printed in letters of gold, in which he makes the ac- 
knowledgment to Grant, " You lucrc right and -I ivas 
zvrong:' The national gain was the least of the 
fruits of the success, for as the capture of Fort Don- 
elson expelled the Confederate forces from Ken- 
tucky and the greater part of Tennessee, so the cap- 
ture of Vicksburg reopened the great Father of 
Waters to trade and navigation, and drove the ene- 
my from a good portion of the State of Mississippi. 
The important results accomplished by the suc- 
cessful campaign and siege are thus briefly stated 
in Grant's official report: 

The result of this campaign has been the defeat 
of the enemy in five battles outside of Vicksburg, 
the occupation of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, 
and the capture of Vicksburg and its garrison and 
munitions of war; a loss to the enemy of thirty- 
seven thousand prisoners, among whom were fifteen 
general officers; at least ten thousand killed and 
wounded, and among the killed Generals Tracy, 
Tilghman, and Green; and hundreds, perhaps thou- 
sands, of stragglers, who can never be collected and 
reorganized; arms and munitions of war for an 
army of sixty thousand men have fallen into our 
hands, beside a large amount of other public prop- 
erty, consisting of railroads, locomotives, cars, 
steamboats, cotton, etc., and much was destroyed 
to prevent our capturing it. 

a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass 
expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below and 
took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should 
go down the river and join General Banks, and when you turned 
northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I 
now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were 
right and I was wrong. A. Lincoln. 



l8o GENERAL GRANT. 

An officer of the army received a note from Gen- 
eral Grant, written on the day he entered Vicks- 
burg, stating that before the loth of that month 
Port Hudson would surrender to the forces of Gen- 
eral Banks. With what wonderful accuracy he cal- 
culated results is shown by the fall of the other 
stronghold within the time. The surrender of Port 
Hudson was the natural sequence to the fall of 
Vicksburg. Grant adroitly managed to have a dis- 
patch, which he sent to Banks, saying that he would 
join him on a certain day, intercepted, and this 
reaching General Gardner, the commander at Port 
Hudson, the place was immediately surrendered. 
The mighty struggle for the control of the great 
river of the West was finished, and the Mississippi 
flowed unvexed to the sea. 

Just before General Grant initiated his splendid 
campaign against Vicksburg, and after all the prep- 
arations had been made for sweeping loose from 
the base of supplies on the Mississippi River to 
make the circuitous inland march z'ia Jackson to 
the rear of Vicksburg, he was called upon by Sher- 
man, and addressed as follows: " General Grant, I 
feel it to be my duty to say that, as a subordinate 
officer, I am bound to give you my hearty co-opera- 
tion in this movement, but, having no faith in it, 
I feel it due to my military reputation to protest 
against it in writing, and hope that my protest will 
be forwarded by you to Washington." " Very well, 
Sherman," quietly replied the commanding general, 
" send along your protest; I'll take care of it." 

The next day Grant received Sherman's docu- 
ment, and the m(n-cnicnt \\as then initiated which 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. i8l 

culminated in the surrender of Vicksburg and its 
immense garrison — the largest capture of men and 
materials ever made in war; at Ulni Napoleon re- 
ceived thirty thousand men and sixty pieces of can- 
non, a number, says Alison, " unparalleled in mod- 
ern warfare." Prior, however, to Pemberton's 
capitulation, but after it w^as morally certain that 
the rebel stronghold must fall. General Sherman 
rode up to Grant's headquarters one day, and found 
his chief stretched on the ground beneath his " fly," 
endeavoring to keep as cool as possible in the sultry 
midsummer weather. They were chatting pleas- 
antly on the prospects of the quickly approaching 
success when General Grant's adjutant general 
came up and asked for a certain of^cial paper which 
he had in his possession. Taking a handful of docu- 
ments from his breast pocket, a receptacle which 
was always plethoric with papers, he selected the 
one that had been called for, and, before putting 
the rest away, drew forth a second paper from the 
pile. Then turning to Sherman with a smile and 
a merry twinkle in his eye, he said, " By the by, 
general, here is something that wnll interest you." 
Sherman took it and saw the " protest " which two 
months before he had handed to General Grant to 
be forwarded to Washington through the proper 
channel. An expression of astonishment and grati- 
fication diffused itself over Sherman's bronzed fea- 
tures, which quickly changed to one of supreme 
satisfaction when Grant took the document from his 
hand and, tearing it into small fragments, scattered 
them to the winds. No further allusion to the sub- 
ject was made by these illustrious soldiers. 



1 82 GENERAL GRANT. 

History has pronounced Napoleon's first cam- 
paign in Italy as one of the few without a single 
mistake or even an obvious piece of ill fortune. 
May not the same statement be made in speaking of 
Grant's masterpiece? The capture of Vicksburg, 
combined with the glorious victory at Gettysburg, 
which added new luster to the day of the nation's 
birth, was a deathblow to all reasonable hope of a 
Southern Confederacy. The glories of the simul- 
taneous victories of Gettysburg and \*icksburg may 
not exceed or even equal those of Marathon and 
Thermopylae, but they will rival those proud vic- 
tories of ancient days in the remembrance of the 
American people of the North. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 

The hero of Vicksburg had at last found his 
vocation. Other and larger fields for the display 
of his marvelous military powers of combination 
and execution were awaiting him. A doubtful and 
disastrous battle was in a few months to call him 
again to active service, and to a greatly enlarged 
command. During the interval — in September — 
he visited General Banks, commander of the De- 
partment of the Gulf, at New Orleans to consult 
with him as to their future plans. While there a 
grand review was held at Carrollton, a few miles 
above the city, of FrankHn's Nineteenth and Ord's 
Thirteenth Army Corps, the latter having been 
sent early in August from Vicksburg to New Or- 
leans. " As good troops," wrote Grant to General 
Banks, " as ever trod American soil, no better are 
found on any other." The review took place Sep- 
tember 4th, in the presence of Generals Grant, 
Banks, Washburn, Herron, Stone, Thomas, and 
other minor officers. It was a stirring yet pathetic 
sight as Grant, accompanied by a brilliant retinue 
of generals and staff officers, dashed along the lines 
13 183 



l84 GENERAL GRANT. 

to his position under a massive live oak, while the 
colors torn by the shot and shell of Belmont, Don- 
elson, Shiloh, Port Gibson, Jackson, Champion 
Hill, Big Black, and Vicksburg dipped to him, and 
the vigorous cheers of the well-seasoned veterans 
filled the plain with echoes. 

Returning from the review, his spirited steed 
took fright at an approaching train on the New 
Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, suddenly swerved, 
and threw Grant heavily to the ground.* With the 
aid of some passers-by, we bore him into a road- 
side inn, where he soon recovered consciousness, 
but received injuries from which he was not wholly 
cured for several months. Indeed, before he could 
walk without the aid of crutches he was ordered 
to proceed to Cairo and await instructions. Arriv- 
ing there early in October, he was directed to pro- 
ceed to the Gait House, at Louisville, Ky., where 
he would meet an officer of the War Department 
with instructions. The dispatch closed with the 
significant order to go " prepared for immediate 
operations in the field." This was on October 17th, 
and Grant at once set out for Louisville by rail z'ia 
Indianapolis. At the latter place he was joined by 
the Secretary of War, who brought with him an 
order investing him with the consolidated Depart- 
ments of the Cumberland, Ohio, and Tennessee, 
including all the territory between the Alleghanies 
and the Mississippi River, excepting that portion 

* This magnificent blood bay, nearly seventeen hands, was 
loaned to Grant by General Banks, who bought him in Virginia. 
Charlie, as he was called, enjoys the unique distinction of being 
the only horse that ever unseated the illustrious soldier. 




^ ^ 1^ "^ 



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I 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 185 

commanded by General Banks, to be known as the 
Military Division of the Mississippi. Mr. Stanton 
also brought two other orders, one retaining Rose- 
crans in his previous command of the Army and 
Department of the Cumberland, the other relieving 
him and substituting General George H. Thomas. 
Grant was offered his choice, and at once made it 
in favor of a change, his previous experience with 
General Rosecrans not being satisfactory. He was 
immediately relieved, and Thomas assigned to the 
vacant position. 

The day following he left Louisville for Chatta- 
nooga, after forwarding the following dispatch to 
General Thomas: "Hold Chattanooga at all haz- 
ards. I will be there as soon as possible." To 
which the stout old soldier replied at once, " I will 
hold the town till we starve ! " From Bridgeport 
Grant proceeded on horseback over roads almost 
impassable by reason of the rain, which rolled in 
torrents down the mountain sides. Frequently the 
whole party had to dismount and lead their horses 
over unsafe places or spots where it was impossible 
to cross on horseback. Grant, who was still suffer- 
ing and lame, being carried in the arms of soldiers. 
He found afifairs at the front in a serious condition. 
Indeed, they could not have been worse, Rosecrans 
having fought the battle of Chickamauga a month 
before — September 19th and 20th. 

The army was now in Chattanooga with Bragg 
in command of a superior force occupying the 
heights of Lookout Mountain and Missionary 
Ridge above him, and threatening to shell the city. 
He also by this position held the only gap leading 



1 86 GENERAL GRANT. 

south through the Alleghanies, Chattanooga being 
at its northern entrance and Atlanta at its south- 
ern. The national troops held Chattanooga, and 
were strongly intrenched in the Tennessee Valley 
on the foothills fronting Lookout Mountain and 
Missionary Ridge, with the river protecting their 
rear. The army was without proper food, clothes, 
or equipment. Its base of supplies was at Nash- 
ville, a hundred miles distant, and connected with 
Chattanooga by a single line of rail, which was not 
wholly in possession of the Union forces, that part 
of it skirting the Tennessee River from Bridgeport 
to Chattanooga, about twenty miles in extent, being 
held by Bragg. This necessitated a circuitous trans- 
portation of all supplies by wagons over the moun- 
tains in the rear of the Union troops, a distance of 
nearly sixty miles, and, as the surrounding country 
had been swept of all food products, the army was 
in an embarrassing position from lack of abso- 
lutely necessary supplies. 

A great general must possess executive ability, 
as well as the power to conceive plans and combina- 
tions. The furnishing of supplies to an army is 
as essential in a campaign as the fighting of battles. 
Grant's genius lay in the possession, to a marked 
degree, of both qualities. Before ordering up re- 
enforcements or projecting a plan of campaign, he 
determined to regain possession of the river, the 
railway, and the valley roads. The next day after 
his arrival — October 24th — he issued orders for 
opening the railroad and river to Bridgeport, then 
held, as we have seen, by Bragg. Portions of the 
Eleventh and Twelfth Corps of the Army of the 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 187 

Potomac, under Generals Hooker and Slocum, with 
Hooker in command, had some time before been 
sent west to re-enforce General Rosecrans, and were 
now at Bridgeport. 

These troops were ordered to co-operate with 
the Army of the Cumberland in the movement. To 
intelligently describe it we must speak more in de- 
tail of the position of the two armies. The Tennes- 
see flowing from Chattanooga to Bridgeport makes 
a deep bend to the north. The railroad from Bridge- 
port to Chattanooga crosses the neck of this bend 
several miles from the south bank of the Tennessee, 
with the Raccoon Mountains interposed between 
it and the river. Whitesides is a small station on 
the railway about midway between the two points, 
and Wauhatchie is another hamlet at the mouth of 
Lookout Valley, about three miles below Chatta- 
nooga. Next as the traveler approaches Chatta- 
nooga is Lookout Mountain, dividing Lookout 
Valley on the west from Chattanooga Valley on 
the east, the later walled on the extreme east by the 
rocky heights of Missionary Ridge. 

Each valley is traversed by a creek of the same 
name flowing north to the Tennessee. Lookout 
Mountain on the north or Chattanooga side rises 
boldly, almost precipitately, twenty-two hundred 
feet above tide water, but has a more gentle slope 
on the south. The Confederate line, beginning at 
Missionary Ridge, Bragg's extreme right, stretched 
across Chattanooga Valley over Lookout Moun- 
tain,- across Lookout Valley, and over the Raccoon 
Mountains to the Tennessee, a distance of about fif- 
teen miles. In the rear of the Raccoon Mountains 



1 88 GENERAL GRANT. 

was a wagon road along each bank of the river as 
far as Kelly's Ferry, where that on the northern 
shore coming from Jasper crossed to the south side, 
and both leaving the river passed through Cum- 
ming's Gap in the Raccoon Mountains to the main 
road leading north out of Lookout Valley, and 
thence followed that road to Brown's Ferry, about 
three miles below Chattanooga. 

General Hooker, at Bridgeport, was now or- 
dered to cross to the south side of the Tennessee 
and march up the railroad by Whitesides to Brown's 
Ferry, while General Palmer, with a division of the 
Fourteenth Corps of the Army of the Cumberland, 
was to move from Chattanooga dozen the river on 
the north bank by an obscure road until opposite 
Whitesides, when he was to cross and move on to 
and hold the road in Hooker's rear. To General 
W. F. Smith was given command of the troops de- 
signed to secure the passage of the Tennessee at 
Brown's Ferry. Smith, as chief engineer of the 
Army of the Cumberland, had previously built two 
steamboats and provided material for bridges. He 
was now given four thousand men, eighteen hun- 
dred of whom, under General Ilazen, were detailed 
with sixty pontoon boats to float down the river 
under cover of night to Brown's Ferry, there land 
on the south bank, and cai:)ture or rout the enemy's 
pickets stationed there. At an earlier hour Smith 
himself was to march down the north bank with the 
remainder of his force and the bridge materials and 
be ready to throw a bridge across as soon as Hazen 
should gain the south bank. 

The plan worked admirably. At 3 .\. M. on the 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. ig^ 

morning of the 27th Hazen floated past the ene- 
my's outpost at the north base of Lookout, and at 
five o'clock surprised the picket guard at Brown's 
Ferry, and captured all except a few who found 
safety in flight. Promptly on the hour Smith ap- 
peared, was ferried over, and by seven o'clock had 
gained possession of a height on the south shore 
commanding the ferry, which he quickly fortified. 
By ten o'clock a pontoon bridge had been laid, and 
the Union right was across the river and intrenched 
in Lookout Valley. General Hooker, w^ho had 
begun his march from Bridgeport on the 26th, met 
with little opposition en route, and, entering Look- 
out Valley at Wauhatchie, joined the forces already 
in possession. 

Dispositions were now made to hold the valley. 
Howard, with the Eleventh Corps, took post at 
Brown's Ferry to command the river. Geary, with 
a division of the Twelfth, remained in Lookout Val- 
ley, near Wauhatchie. The enemy's outposts on 
the Raccoon Mountains being cut ofif, soon sur- 
rendered, and the river was open from Brown's 
Ferry to Bridgeport. Steamers, however, could 
only come up to Kelly's Ferry, because of the swift 
current in the narrows between that point and 
Brown's Ferry, but from Kelly's a good and level 
road led through the gap in the Raccoon Moun- 
tains, before described, to Brown's Ferry, thence 
across the river and up the north bank to a point 
opposite Chattanooga, where a temporary bridge 
gave access to the city. It was but eight miles from 
Kelly's Ferry to Chattanooga by this route. Until 
the railroad could be rebuilt Grant's supplies now 



IQO GENERAL GRANT. 

came by steamer from Bridgeport up the Tennes- 
see to Kelly's Ferry, and thence by wagon to Chat- 
tanooga, a route that proved capable of meeting 
all the demands made upon it. The enemy made 
one desperate effort to sever the line by an assault 
on General Geary's force, but was beaten back with 
heavy loss. 

Being now able to supply his army, Grant began 
concentrating his scattered command and making 
dispositions for forcing Bragg from his position. 
Surveying the field, he found that General Burn- 
side with twenty-five thousand men was at Knox- 
ville, in East Tennessee, in a desperate condition, 
being one hundred miles from any base of supplies, 
while the surrounding country had been ravaged 
of everything that could support life. He was not 
yet closely besieged, although in daily danger of it. 
The only method of relieving him was to force 
General Bragg from Lookout and Missionary Ridge 
and regain control of the upper Tennessee. His 
subsequent combinations were made with this 
end in view. 

Sherman, the commander on whom Grant al- 
ways relied, had been ordered to march from Mem- 
phis to the assistance of his chief, and with his army 
was now, November ist, at Florence, Ala., about 
a hundred miles down the Tennessee. Since we 
left him at Vicksburg he had been promoted to be 
commander of the Army of the Tennessee, with 
headquarters in the field. When this force arrived 
there would be an additional army to be provided 
for. It was also expected that General Burnside 
would yet have to be supplied from Chattanooga. 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 191 

To do this there was only the single line of rail from 
Nashville. The general decided to build another 
railroad. Sherman had repaired the line from Mem- 
phis to Eastport as he marched, and had brought 
up his supplies upon it. It was constantly being 
raided by the enemy, however, and the repairs re- 
tarded his march. At Eastport he found an abun- 
dance of supplies, which had been brought up the 
IMississippi and Ohio Rivers on steamers from St. 
Louis by Grant's forethought. With these in his 
wagons. Grant now ordered Sherman to move on 
to Stevenson, near Bridgeport, without maintain- 
ing the communications in his rear. 

At Stevenson the Memphis and Charleston 
Road, which Sherman had followed, unites with 
the Nashville and Chattanooga. From Decatur, 
on the former road, a branch had formerly led up to 
Nashville, but had been almost entirely destroyed 
by the enemy. By rebuilding this line and the 
Memphis and Charleston from Decatur to Steven- 
son, Grant would have two lines of transportation 
as far as the latter point. The distance to be cov- 
ered was one hundred and two miles, and the coun- 
try between w^as broken with deep ravines and wide 
river valleys, necessitating one hundred and eighty- 
two bridges. All these had been destroyed even to 
the culverts. The rails had been heated and twisted, 
every vestige of rolling stock destroyed or removed. 

General Granville M. Dodge, of Sherman's 
army, was skilled in bridge building as well as a 
good soldier. He was now detailed by Grant's 
order, with his command of eight thousand men, 
to repair and hold the road from Decatur to Nash- 



192 



GENERAL GRANT. 



ville. Dodge had no tools except the axes, picks, 
and spades carried for intrenching. Often the tim- 
ber for the work had to be felled and hewn in the 
neighboring forests. Masters of all the trades 
needed he found in his ranks, and in forty days the 
road was completed. Locomotives and rolling 
stock had been collected from Vicksburg and the 
North, and the new line was immediately put into 
active operation. 

Meantime a second most important battle had 
been fought and won. On the 4th of November, 
before Sherman could come up. General Longstreet 
with twenty thousand men was detached by Bragg 
to attack Burnside at Knoxville. On the 7th Grant, 
in obedience to earnest appeals from the President 
" to do something for Burnside," ordered Thomas 
peremptorily to attack Bragg; but the latter de- 
clared it to be an impossibility — he had not horses 
enough to move even a single piece of artillery. 
At the same time Burnside was ordered to concen- 
trate his forces and hold out to the last, as relief 
was near at hand. On the 14th Grant telegraphed 
him that Sherman's advance had reached Bridge- 
port, that he would be able to move thence with 
his whole force by the Tuesday following, and that 
if he could hold Longstreet in check until that date, 
or avoid loss by skirmishing and retreating, thus 
gaining time, he would drive Bragg back and throw 
an army between him and Longstreet that would 
force the latter to retreat to the mountain passes. 

Later in the day he sent Burnside his plan of 
battle for carrying all the enemy's positions. Sher- 
man's force as soon as it arrived was to be thrown 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 193 

across the Tennessee at and below the mouth of 
Chickamauga Creek and attack from that quarter. 
Thomas, who held the Federal center, would at- 
tack on Sherman's left at the same time, and to- 
gether they expected to carry Missionary Ridge, 
and then push out a force and capture the railroad 
to Knoxville between Cleveland and Dalton. Hook- 
er, at the same time, would march over the north- 
ern plateau of Lookout Mountain and gain Bragg's 
rear if possible. The 19th would be the earli- 
est day that this combination could be effected, 
and if Burnside could not sustain himself until 
that time he was ordered to advise his supe- 
rior officer at once. When later Burnside was 
besieged by Longstreet, Grant sent him this char- 
acteristic communication: "I can hardly conceive 
the necessity for retreating. If I did so^ at all, it 
would be after losing most of the army." But heavy 
rains and floods during the 20th and 21st retarded 
Sherman's march, and threatened to sweep away 
the frail bridges on which so much depended. His 
troops were not up by the evening of the 22d. 
Meantime, on the 20th, news came that the attack 
on Burnside had begun, and again the most earnest 
messages were sent by Lincoln from Washington 
to the commander at Chattanooga imploring him 
to relieve Burnside at all hazards. 

Grant's suspense was also great, but more en- 
durable, because, as he remarks in his Memoirs, 
" he was in a position where he could soon do some- 
thing to relieve the situation." Burnside was least 
anxious of all, being confident of his ability to main- 
tain his position. On the 20th Grant received a 



194 



GENERAL GRANT. 



message from Bragg stating that, as there might be 
some noncombatants still in Chattanooga, he 
thought it proper to notify him that prudence would 
dictate their early removal. Grant at once divined 
that this indicated some new movement on the part 
of his adversary, but did not discover what it was 
until the 22d, when a deserter came in and reported 
that Buckner's division had been sent that day to 
re-enforce Longstreet at Knoxville. 

Hearing nothing from Burnside, Grant now de- 
termined to attack next day, the 23d, with the Army 
of the Cumberland alone, not waiting for Sherman. 
In one respect the original plan of battle was modi- 
fied. Hooker, it was feared, might not be able to 
cross over Lookout Mountain in time to threaten 
Bragg's rear. He was therefore ordered to move 
at Brown's Ferry to the north bank, march up op- 
posite Chattanooga, and then cross to the south 
bank within the Union line of battle. This line had 
been heavily fortified during the siege. On this 
battle morning it was advanced a mile back from 
the river, and stretched from Citico Creek, at the 
base of Missionary Ridge on the left, to Chatta- 
nooga Creek, near the base of Lookout on the right. 
The many heights along the line were strongly in- 
trenched and manned with guns of the heaviest 
caliber. Fort Wood, to the east of Chattanooga, 
mounting twenty-two guns, was nearest the Con- 
federate position, and commanded its most ad- 
vanced positions. 

Under protection of its guns Thomas, com- 
manding the center, now formed in line Gordon 
Granger's corps of two divisions, commanded by 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 195 

Philip H. Sheridan and Thomas J. Wood respective- 
ly, the former on the right, the latter on the left, his 
line reaching to Citico Creek. The Fourteenth 
Corps, under Palmer, held that part of the line 
facing south and southwest, with Baird's division 
supporting Sheridan, while Johnson's was held in 
the trenches under arms as a reserve. Howard's 
corps was drawn up in the rear of the center. At 
this point the opposing lines were but a few hun- 
dred yards apart. By 2 p. m. all was ready. The 
signal to advance — the booming of cannon along 
the line — was given, and, after a short but sharp 
conflict, the detached heights between Missionary 
Ridge and the Union lines were carried, the lines 
by this manoeuver being advanced fully a mile 
nearer Bragg's main position. 

These heights, already fortified, were greatly 
strengthened during the following night, and played 
an important part in the next day's battle. The 
Union loss was eleven hundred killed and wounded, 
and the Confederate about the same. Meantime 
throughout the day of battle Sherman's Vicksburg 
veterans had been quietly falling into position, and 
by nightfall were ready to move, all except Oster- 
haus's command, which had not been able to cross 
at Brown's Ferry, the flood in the Tennessee hav- 
ing swept away the bridge at that point. Oster- 
haus's command was therefore joined to Hooker's, 
which for the same reason had remained in Look- 
out Valley, and the combined force under Hooker 
was ordered to move to the attack next morning 
over Lookout Mountain as originally planned. 

Sherman's army had succeeded in reaching its 



196 



GENERAL GRANT. 



camp on the north bank of the Tennessee, nearly 
opposite the mouth of the Chickamauga, without 
being perceived by the enemy, the troops having 
marched by bhnd roads back of the mountains, 
north of the river, with this end in view. It was on 
the extreme Union left, nearly opposite Missionary 
Ridge, the strongest position of the enemy. Be- 
tween it and the latter, however, flowed the Ten- 
nessee. To cross this one hundred and sixteen pon- 
toon boats, each capable of carrying thirty men, 
had been floated secretly down to the mouth of 
the North Chickamauga, some distance above Sher- 
man's position, while bridge materials had been con- 
cealed near the point of his proposed crossing. 
During the night Giles A. Smith's brigade, marched 
to these boats, embarked and floated down the Ten- 
nessee to the proposed point, landed on the south 
bank, at the mouth of the South Chickamauga 
River, and surprised and captured the Confederate 
picket post there. 

With the pontoons and the aid of a steamer sent 
from Chattanooga, the task of ferrying over Sher- 
man's command was begun, the men as soon as they 
landed securing their position by throwing up in- 
trenchments. Both divisions were over and in- 
trenched by daylight. A bridge upon which the 
cavalry and artillery could cross was then pushed 
forward with such rapidity that it was finished 
shortly after noon, as well as one over the South 
Chickamauga, the enemy meantime looking on 
amazed at this appearance of an army on his ex- 
treme right— an army which he liad supposed to 
be bivotiackcd bv the town on liis extreme left. 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. IQ7 

The cavalry and artillery were soon massed on the 
south shore, abundance of horses to move the latter 
having been brought by the army from the West. 

At I p. M. Sherman gave the order to advance 
on Missionary Ridge. With a hundred guns play- 
ing upon them, and with as many more answering 
from the Federal heights, his command gained the 
foot of the first advanced spur of Missionary Ridge, 
climbed it through storms of shot and shell, beat 
back the bayonets that wreathed its top, clambered 
over the hot muzzles of the guns upon its summit, 
and at half-past three planted their banners there, 
a step nearer the superior heights frowning above. 
Two brigades were at once ordered to this advanced 
position to hold it, artillery was brought up and 
mounted, and soon the captured height was made 
impregnable to any Confederate force likely to be 
thrown against it. 

Clouds hung upon the summits of Lookout 
and Missionary Ridge during this first day, and 
Bragg probably did not discern this movement until 
its object was attained. Then he made two deter- 
mined attempts to recapture it, but failed, and as 
night fell Sherman held the position gained with 
one foot already in the enemy's camp. There was 
little or no fighting in the center this first day, but 
on the extreme Federal right Hooker had been en- 
gaged from sunrise. He had been left, it will be 
remembered, in Lookout Valley, with Lookout 
Mountain between him and Chattanooga Valley, 
where Sherman was fighting with three divisions, 
all of different commands — Geary's, of the Twelfth 
Corps, Army of the Potomac, Osterhaus's, of the 



1 98 GENERAL GRANT. 

I'lfteenth Corps, Army of the Tennessee, and Cruft's 
Fourteenth Corps, Army of the Cumberland. The 
face of Lookout Mountain confronting him was 
rugged, precipitous, wooded, and full of chasms, 
which the tourist of to-day finds it dilificult to climb, 
and which would seem insurmountable to soldiers 
encumbered with arms and in face of a foe. 

The summit that day was held by three brigades 
of Bragg's force under General Stevenson, who 
had trained their guns and were looking for their 
foe on the eastern slope, which is much more grad- 
ual in ascent, and up which the road from Chatta- 
nooga winds to the summit. They had not regarded 
it as within the range of possibility that men would 
attempt to climb the northern or western face. 
Geary took the initiative by moving his division, 
supported by a brigade of Cruft's, up Lookout Creek 
to effect a crossing, Hooker's entire force having 
been encamped on the western bank of that stream. 
The rest of Cruft's division was ordered to cross by 
a bridge over the creek near the former railroad 
bridge. Osterhaus also was to cross by the same 
means. This latter movement, shrouded in the heavy 
morning mist, so engaged the enemy's attention 
that Geary was able to cross farther up and begin 
ascending the mountain before him without having 
been perceived. Osterhaus and Cruft also forced 
the bridge, scattering the guard placed there to 
hold it, and began to ascend the mountain in their 
innnediate front. 

Soon the sound of Geary's nuiskcts above in the 
mist gave notice that he had aroused the enemy. 
Then the sides and summits blazed with musketry 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 199 

and artillery, and grape, canister, and minie balls 
tore through the ascending line or whistled harm- 
lessly overhead. Taking cover behind trees, stumps, 
and rocky walls, zigzagging, one man hoisting an- 
other upon his shoulders to scale the precipices, 
firing by the flash of the enemy's guns, Geary's men 
fought their way up until the Confederates, seeing 
their left menaced, gave way all along the line. 
This brought Cruft and Osterhaus abreast of 
Geary, and the whole line swept up the mountain, 
driving the enemy before it, and gaining before 
noon the open ground on the north face, with its 
right at the base of the last precipice before reach- 
ing the summit, the latter, however, being strongly 
fortified. 

The Union line of battle was now extended on 
the right from the mouth of Chattanooga Creek 
up Lookout jMountain, Geary's right, under the 
precipice, becoming the extreme right, and the 
army which had been before separated by Lookout 
Llountain was united. Grant and Thomas stood 
upon Orchard Knob in the center while these wide- 
ly separated movements were being carried out, 
unable to see anything of Hooker, who literally 
fought above the clouds, but accurately gauging 
his position from the sounds of battle. The latter 
carried the breastworks on Lookout [Mountain be- 
fore him, but was not able to move his lines down 
into Chattanooga Valley before nightfall, and biv- 
ouacked on the mountain. 

At this time everything seemed favorable for a 
Federal victory on the morrow. Sherman held his 
advanced position on the extreme left, and had sent 
14 



200 GENERAL GRANT. 

his cavalry to destroy the raih-oad to Knoxville, and 
thus cut off Longstreet from his base. Thomas with 
the center held the advanced line gained the day 
before, and Hooker was in position to move down 
next morning, cross Chattanooga Valley and Creek, 
and strike the rear of the Confederate position on 
Missionary Ridge as planned. Grant telegraphed 
the result to President Lincoln that night, and next 
day received the reply, "Well done; many thanks 
to all. Remember Burnside." It was a busy night 
for the commanding general. First, he sent a dis- 
patch to General Wilcox, in Tennessee, bidding him 
send a courier with the news to Burnside. To 
Sherman he gave the order to attack with vigor at 
daylight ; Hooker was directed to move at the same 
hour, get on the line of the enemy's retreat if he 
still held his position; if he had retired, then to 
move to Rossville, on the old battlefield of Chicka- 
mauga, and attack Bragg on Missionary Ridge 
from the rear. The center was to remain quiet until 
Hooker should attack at Rossville. 

]\Iorning dawned fair and clear. The stern bat- 
tlements above the valley stood out grim and terri- 
ble, and the forts on Lookout, Bragg's headquarters 
on Missionary Ridge, and Sherman's on the de- 
tached si)ur confronting him were all visible from 
Orchard Knob, where at an early hour Grant and 
Thomas took their stations. The hill where Sher- 
man lay ready to strike was the principal object 
of interest. That general had before him a formi- 
dable task. A deep depression occupied by a car- 
riage road and a railway cut antl tunnel intervened 
between him and the rockv heights to be carried. 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 20I 

These latter were bristling with cannon and bayo- 
nets, and were swept by guns from the earthworks 
on higher ground still farther in the rear. As the 
sun rose Grant saw that Sherman's command was 
moving. Three brigades were left to guard the 
hill. Morgan L. Smith advanced along the east- 
ern base of Alissionary Ridge. Loomis, supported 
bv two brigades of John E. Smith's division, took 
the west base. Corse with his brigade charged in 
the center. Morgan L. Smith seized and held the 
railroad bridge, Bragg's only line of communication 
with his supply depot at Chickamauga Station. The 
latter, thus threatened, began rapidly to mass his 
troops against Sherman. 

From his position Grant saw column after col- 
umn detached and moved against the latter. Every 
Confederate gun that could obtain the range was 
turned upon him, and then began that great artil- 
lery duel which rendered the battle of Chattanooga 
second only to Gettysburg in impressiveness, for 
the Union batteries replied vmtil the valley and 
mountains, shrouded in sulphurous smoke, lighted 
by flashes, and smitten by thunder, shook as in the 
throes of an earthquake. In the face of it John E. 
Smith's two brigades dashed up the open western 
slope to the support of Corse, succeeded in gain- 
ing the opposing ramparts, and held them for a time 
until the enemy charged with a superior force and 
drove them back as far as a piece of wood. Taking 
advantage of this, Smith halted, reformed, turned 
upon the attacking troops, and swept them back to 
their intrcnchments. Grant, seeing this gallant 
action, ordered a division to Smith's support, and 



202 GENERAL GRANT. 

Baird's division of General Thomas's command 
was detached from the center at Orchard Knob 
and sent to his reHef. 

This charge of Baird's was one of the incidents 
of the battle. He had nearly two miles to march 
to reach the hill, through the open plain under 
Bragg's eye and that of the Confederate gunners, 
and the former massed whole columns at the threat- 
ened point to meet him. Meantime Sheridan's and 
Wood's divisions of Granger's corps in the center 
were impatiently waiting the order to assault the 
ridge in their front, having been held in leash all 
day waiting till Hooker, who had gained and left 
Lookout ]\lountain that morning, should strike 
Bragg's rear at Rossville. Loss of the bridge over 
Chattanooga Creek detained Hooker four hours, 
but now, seeing Sherman hard pressed. Grant 
waited for Hooker no longer, but gave the order 
for Wood and Sheridan to attack. There was some 
delay owing to the nontransmission of the order, 
but at last both divisions were off. Theirs with 
Baird's were the culminating charges of the day. 
On the ridge before them rose three lines of strong 
works — one on the crest, one halfway down the 
hill, and at its base a third. 

. It was a gallant charge, the Confederate artillery 
playing upon the advancing lines, opening great 
gaps in them, the Federal guns filling the air above 
their heads with shot and shell, and raining them on 
every square yard of the oj^posing redoubts, riddling 
Bragg's headquarters, killing the horses of a bat- 
tery at his feet; under cover of it the column sweep- 
ing steadily on over the rolling ground up to the 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 203 

first line of rifle pits, driving the defenders out at 
the point of the bayonet, and lying there panting 
while it regained breath. And then Sheridan and 
Wood and Turchin rallied their men for the charge, 
and, following their colors into the face of thirteen 
batteries of heavy guns and of eight thousand in- 
fantry, the line swept up the craggy hillside and 
carried the crowning redoubts at the summit. 

This practically ended the battle, for the enemy 
in front of Sherman, seeing their left carried and 
themselves outflanked by Sheridan's impetuous 
charge, soon gave way also. Sheridan pursued 
with vigor until the Chickamauga was reached, 
capturing in the pursuit a second position, with 
many prisoners, guns, and artillery trains. Sher- 
man, on hearing of the enemy's flight, detailed his 
reserves — Davis's division — to cross the Chicka- 
mauga by the pontoon bridge at its mouth and 
march against Chickamauga Station. Hooker, 
meanwhile, had come upon the flank of one of 
Bragg's divisions at Rossville, and had put it to 
flight, capturing prisoners and guns. Thus over 
the whole extended line the enemy was in broken 
and disorganized retreat. Grant at once telegraphed 
the news to Burnside, and dispatched troops and 
stores to his relief. The latter, however, had taken 
good care of himself, having contrived by several 
clever expedients not only to beat ofif the enemy, 
but to supply his commissary wagons as well. 
Grant had fairly won his fourth great victory 

Colonel McKinstry, of General Bragg's staff, 
said that he considered the Confederate posi- 
tion perfectly impregnable, and that when he saw 



204 



GENERAL GRANT. 



our troops, after capturing the rifle pits, coining 
up the craggy mountain side, bristHng with bayo- 
nets and hundreds of cannon, he could scarcely 
credit his eyes, and thought every man of them 
must be drunk. History has no parallel for sublimity 
and picturesqueness of efifect, while the conse- 
quences — the division of the Confederacy — were in- 
estimable. Grant announced his success in the fol- 
lowing short and modest dispatch to Halleck at 
Washington: " Akhough the battle lasted from 
early dawn until dark this evening, I believe I am 
not premature in announcing a complete victory 
over Bragg. Lookout ]\Iountain-top and all the 
rifle pits in Chattanooga Valley and Missionary 
Ridge entire have been carried, and are now held 
by us." The quartermaster general of the United 
States army, who was on the ground with Grant 
during the brilliant campaign, wrote as follows to 
the Secretary of War: 

Bragg's remaining troops left early in the night, 
and the battle of Chattanooga, after days of manoeu- 
vering and fighting, was won. The strength of the 
rebellion in the center is broken. Burnside is re- 
lieved from danger in East Tennessee. Kentucky 
and Tennessee are rescued. Georgia and the South- 
cast are threatened in the rear, and another victory 
is added to the chapter of " Unconditional Surren- 
der Grant." To-night the estimate of captures is 
several thousand prisoners and thirty pieces of artil- 
lery. Our loss for so great a victory is not severe. 
Bragg is firing the railroad as he retreats toward 
] Walton. Sherman is in hot pursuit. To-day I 
viewed the battlefield, which extends for six miles 
along Missionary Ridge and for several miles on 
Lookout Ah)untain. Probablv not so well-directed, 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 205 

SO well-ordered a battle has taken place during the 
war. But one assault was repulsed; but that as- 
sault, by calling to that point the rebel reserves, 
prevented them repulsing any of the others. A 
few days since Bragg sent to General Grant a flag 
of truce, advising him that it would be prudent to 
remove any noncombatants who might be still in 
Chattanooga. No reply has been returned; but the 
combatants having removed from the vicinity, it is 
probable that noncombatants can remain without 
imprudence. 

President Lincoln personally acknowledged 
General Grant's irresistible determination and skill 
by sending him the following telegram: "Under- 
standing that your lodgment at Chattanooga and 
Knoxville is now secure, I wish to tender you, and 
all under your command, my more than thanks — 
my profoundest gratitude — for the skill, courage, 
and perseverance with which you and they, over so 
great difftculties, have effected that important object. 
God bless you all." 

We must again refer to the report of the general 
in chief, in which, alluding to the campaign in the 
Chattanooga Mountains and Valley, he says: " Con- 
sidering the strength of the rebel position, and the 
diflBculty of storming his intrenchments, the battle 
of Chattanooga uuist be considered the most remark- 
able in history. Not only did the officers and men 
exhibit great skill and daring in their operations on 
the field, but the highest praise is due to the com- 
manding general for his admirable dispositions for 
dislodging the enemy from a position apparently 
impregnable." 

On December loth. General Grant issued the 



2o6 GENERAL GRANT. 

following congratulatory order to the armies under 
his command — a self-possessed and noble tribute 
from an unassuming, magnanimous heart, which 
recalls some of the orders of the Duke of Welling- 
ton, whom Grant in so many particulars strongly- 
resembled: 

The general commanding takes this opportunity 
of returning his sincere thanks and congratulations 
to the brave Armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, 
the Tennessee, and their comrades from the Poto- 
mac for the recent splendid and decisive successes 
achieved over the enemy. In a short time you have 
recovered from him the control of the Tennessee 
River from Bridgeport to Knoxville. You dis- 
lodged him from his great stronghold upon Look- 
out Mountain, drove him from Chattanooga Valley, 
wrested from his determined grasp the possession 
of Missionary Ridge, repelled with heavy loss to 
him his repeated assaults upon Knoxville, forcing 
him to raise the siege there, driving him at all 
points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the 
limits of the State. By your noble heroism and de- 
termined courage you have most efifectually de- 
feated the plans of the enemy for regaining posses- 
sion of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. 
You have secured positions from which no rebel- 
lious power can drive or dislodge you. For all this 
the general conmianding thanks you collectively 
and individually. The loyal people of the United 
States thank and bless you. Their hopes and 
prayers for your success against this unholy rebel- 
lion are with you daily. Their faith in you will not 
be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their 
prayers to Almighty God will be answered. You 
will yet go to other fields of strife, and, with the 
invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to jus- 
tice and right which have characterized vou in the 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN, 207 

past, you will prove that no enemy can withstand 
you, and that no defenses, however formidable, can 
check your onward march. 

On the 17th of the same month Congress unani- 
mously voted a resolution of thanks to Grant and 
the officers and soldiers who had fought under his 
command during the rebellion, and a gold medal 
was struck, which it was provided the President 
should present to General Grant " in the name of 
the people of the United States of America." It 
was designed by Leutze. On one face of the medal 
is a profile likeness of the hero, surrounded by a 
wreath of laurels, his name and the year of his vic- 
tories inscribed upon it, the whole surrounded by a 
galaxy of stars. On the obverse is a figure of Fame, 
seated in a graceful attitude on the American eagle, 
which, with wings outspread, seems about to take 
flight. In her right hand she holds her trumpet, 
and in her left a scroll, on which are inscribed Cor- 
inth, \'icksburg, Mississippi River, and Chatta- 
nooga. On her head is an Indian helmet with radi- 
ating feathers. In front of the eagle is the emblem- 
atical shield of the United States. Below the group 
sprigs of the pine and palm, denoting the North 
and South, cross each other. Above the figure of 
Fame, in a curved line, is the motto, " Proclaim 
Liberty throughout the land." The edge is sur- 
rounded, like the obverse, by a circle of Byzantine 
stars, more in number than the existing States, 
thereby suggesting further additions in the future 
to the Union. 

The author had the honor of being at the White 
House one evening in March, 1864, when Mr. 



2o8 GENERAL GRANT. 

Washburne called with the Secretary of State to 
exhibit the medal to Mr. Lincoln before the first- 
mentioned gentleman — Grant's steadfast friend — 
proceeded to City Point to present it formally to 
the lieutenant general. After the President had 
looked for some time at the face the writer re- 
marked, " Mr. President, what is on the obverse 
of the medal? " to which, with a merry twinkle in 
his eyes, he said, " Well, Seward, I suppose, by 
the obverse, our young friend the colonel means 
t'other side." 

After nearly three years' continuous service, and 
having gained nearly a score of victories, in which 
he had captured nearly five hundred cannon and 
ninety thousand prisoners, in January, 1864, Grant 
asked for and obtained permission to visit St. Louis, 
where his eldest son was lying dangerously ill. A 
month later a debate arose in the House of Repre- 
sentatives on the question of reviving the grade of 
lieutenant general, with a view to conferring that 
rank upon Grant, an office held only in our history 
by Washington and Winfiekl Scott, the latter hav- 
ing merely the brevet rank. Tlie bill was passed 
with only nineteen dissenting votes, the President 
at once conferred the position upon Grant, and the 
Senate of the L^nited States confirmed the appoint- 
ment. On March 3d Grant was called to Washing- 
ton. " The Secretary of War," said tlie dispatch, 
" directs that you will rc])ort in person to the War 
Department as early as practicable, considering the 
condition of your command. If necessary, you will 
keep up telegra])hic comnuuiication witli your com- 
mand while cii route to Washington." The next day 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 209 

he started for the national capital, sending ofif, be- 
fore entering upon his journey, the following letter 
to General Sherman: 

The bill reviving the grade of lieutenant general 
in the army has become a law, and my name lias 
been sent to the Senate for the place. I now receive 
orders to report at Washington immediately in per- 
son, which indicates confirmation, or a likelihool 
of confirmation. I start in the morning to comply 
with the order. 

While I have been eminently successful in this 
war — in at least gaining the confidence of the public 
— no one feels more than I how much of this suc- 
cess is due to the energy, skill, and the harmonious 
putting forth of that energy and skill, of those whom 
it has" been my good fortune to have occupying 
subordinate positions under me. 

There are many of^cers to whom these remarks 
are applicable, to a greater or less degree, propor- 
tionate to their ability as soldiers; but what I want 
is to express my thanks to you and McPherson as 
the men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted 
for whatever I have had of success. 

How far your advice and assistance have been 
of help to me you know. How far your execution 
of whatever has been given you to do entitles you 
to the reward I am receiving, you can not know as 
well as I. I feel all the gratitude this letter would 
express, giving it the most fiattering construction. 
The word " you " I use in the plural, intending it 
for McPherson also. I should write to him, and 
will some day, but, starting in the morning, I do 
not know that I will find time just now. 

General Sherman received this letter near ]\Iem- 
phis, Tenn., on March loth, and immediately re- 
plied : 



2IO GENERAL GRANT. 

I have your more than kind and characteristic 
letter of the 4th instant. I will send a copy to Gen- 
eral jMcPherson at once. 

You do yourself injustice and us too much hon- 
or in assigning to us too large a share of the merits 
which have led to your high advancement. I know 
you approve the friendship I have ever professed to 
you, and will permit me to continue, as heretofore, 
to manifest it on all proper occasions. 

You are now Washington's legitimate successor, 
and occupy a position of almost dangerous eleva- 
tion; but if you can continue, as heretofore, to be 
yourself, simple, honest, and unpretending, you will 
enjoy through life the respect and love of friends, 
and the homage of millions of human beings, that 
will award you a large share in securing to them 
and their descendants a government of law and 
stability. 

I repeat, you do General McPherson and myself 
too much honor. At Belmont you manifested your 
traits, neither of us being near. At Donelson, also, 
you illustrated your whole character. I was not 
near, and General McPherson in too subordinate a 
capacity to influence you. 

Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was 
almost cowed by the terrible array of anarchical ele- 
ments that presented themselves at every point ; but 
that admitted a ray of light I have followed since. 

I believe yovi are as brave, patriotic, and just as 
the great prototype, Washington; as unselfish, kind- 
hearted, and honest a man as should be. But the 
chief characteristic is the simple faith in success you 
have always manifested, which I can liken to noth- 
ing else than the faith a Christian has in his Saviour. 

This faith gave you victory at Shiloh and \ icks- 
burg. Also, when you have completed your prep- 
arations, you go into battle without hesitation, as at 
Chattanooga — no doubts, no reserves; and I tell 
you it was this that made us act with confidence. I 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 21 1 

knew, wherever I was, that you thought of me, and 
if I got in a tight place, you would help me if alive. 

My only point of doubt was in your knowledge 
of grand strategy, and of books of science and his- 
tory; but I confess your common sense seems to 
have supplied all these. 

Now as to the future. Do not stay in Washing- 
ton ; come West ; take to yourself the whole Missis- 
sippi Valley. Let us make it dead sure, and I tell 
you the Atlantic slopes and the Pacific shores will 
follow its destiny, as sure as the limbs of a tree live 
and die with the main trunk. We have done much, 
but still much remains. Time and time's influence 
are with us. We could almost afford to sit still and 
let these influences work. 

Here lies the seat of the coming empire; and 
from the West, when our task is done, we will make 
short work of Charleston and Richmond, and the 
impoverished coast of the Atlantic. 

These two charming letters, so characteristic of 
the men. and so honorable to both, can not but be 
read with the greatest pleasure. The successful 
soldier, on his way to Washington to assume com- 
mand of all the armies of the nation, issued no 
windy proclamations or orders, he made no 
speeches, but without any sound of trumpet or 
drum to herald his approach, proceeded quietly and 
rapidly to Washington in pursuance of orders. 
When he was sometimes recognized at the railway 
stations, the people thronged around him, cheering 
lustily, and all striving to get a glimpse of the re- 
nowned commander. Wliile en route he received 
the following magnanimous dispatch from General 
Halleck, whom h^ was about to supersede: "The 
Secretary of War directs me to say that your com- 



212 GENERAL GRANT. 

mission as lieutenant general is signed, and will be 
delivered to you on your arrival at the War Depart- 
ment. I sincerely congratulate you on this recogni- 
tion of your distinguished and meritorious services." 

On March 8th Grant reached Washington, where 
he had never before spent more than one day. Ar- 
riving with many other passengers by the afternoon 
train from the North, there was the usual rush on 
reaching Willard's Hotel to register. The general, 
carrying a portmanteau and accompanied by his 
eldest son, a lad of fourteen, stepped forward when 
all had registered and wrote on the open page, 
"U. S. Grant and son, Galena, 111." The office clerk, 
with that far-away look peculiar to the craft, and 
without glancing at the book, assigned the modest 
traveler and his youthful companion to the fifth 
floor. As the attendant was moving ofif with Grant 
and his son on the way to their lofty apartment, 
he chanced to look at the register. Had he been 
struck by a cyclone he could scarcely have experi- 
enced a greater degree of astonishment. As soon 
as he sufficiently recovered his wits, he ran after 
the general, and, overtaking Inm, with profuse 
apologies escorted the guests to the best rooms on 
the second floor, which had been reserved for them. 
As the clerk afterward said, "I expected General 
Grant to appear with a retinue of staff officers and 
servants, and could not suppose that the plainly 
attired and unassuming officer, who looked as if he 
might be a captain or major, was about to take 
command of all the Union armies." 

Mr. Lincoln had never seen him and Secretary 
Stanton but once, in Louisville, during the previous 






Facsimile of ('.rant's appointment as Lieutenant-General. 



THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 213 

October. At noon on the day following- the general 
was formally received by the President in the Cabi- 
net chamber at the White House, and, after being 
presented to the members of his Cabinet, Mr. Lin- 
coln said: "General Grant, the nation's apprecia- 
tion of what you have done, and its reliance upon 
you for what remains to be done in the existing 
great struggle, are now presented with this commis- 
sion constituting you lieutenant general in the army 
of the United States. With this high honor de- 
volves upon you also a corresponding responsibil- 
ity. As the country herein trusts you, so under God 
it will sustain you. I scarcely need add that with 
what I here speak for the nation goes my own 
hearty personal concurrence." To which Grant re- 
plied: "Air. President, I accept the commission 
with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With 
the aid of the noble armies that have fought in so 
many fields for our common country, it will be my 
earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expecta- 
tions. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities 
now devolving upon me, and I know if they are 
met it will be due to those armies, and, above all, 
to the favor of that Providence w'hich leads both 
nations and men." 



CHAPTER X. 

COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 

Soon after receiving his commission General 
Grant left Washington for Brandy Station, Va., 
to consult with General J\Ieade, then commanding 
the Army of the Potomac. The hero of Gettys- 
burg, with a self-abnegation worthy of all praise, 
offered to resign in favor of Sherman or of any 
other commander whom Grant preferred to ap- 
point; but the latter had work for Sherman in the 
West, and was glad to retain Meade in his responsi- 
ble position, and one, we may remark en passant, 
that he filled to the perfect satisfaction of his supe- 
rior officer. After this conference Grant returned 
to Washington, and then hurried West to consult 
with Sherman about the spring campaign and to 
surrender his former command. 

On March i8tli Sherman assumed this com- 
mand, which was styled the Military Division of the 
Mississippi, and accompanied his cliief as far as 
Cincinnati on the lattcr's return to Washington. 
Much of moment to the nation and to humanity 
at large was discussed on this journey. Sherman 
was put in possession of the comprehensive plan 
214 



COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 



215 



of campaign conceived by Grant, and, we may be 
sure, added valuable suggestions of his own. The 
restoration to their commands of Generals McClel- 
lan, Buell, Burnside, Fremont, and others, who 
had been relieved of duty by Halleck, was also a 
topic of discussion. Grant left Washington for the 
West on March nth. The next day the order nam- 
ing him general of all the armies was promulgated. 
He received it while at Nashville, and on the 17th 
assumed command in these words: " In pursuance 
of the following order of the President, I assume 
command of the armies of the United States. Head- 
quarters will be in the field, and, until further or- 
ders, will be with the Army of the Potomac. There 
will be an ofBce headquarters in Washington, to 
which all official communications will be sent, ex- 
cept those from the army where the headquarters 
are at their address." 

Six days afterward he arrived in Washington, 
and, to the inexpressible joy oi the nation, imme- 
diately established his headquarters in the field. 
From this time a change in the conducting of 
campaigns was apparent. Hitherto the different 
armies East, West, and South had moved and 
struck independently of each other, and usu- 
ally at different dates, so that the enemy, who 
always moved in the arc of the circle, could con- 
centrate his troops on any threatened point, taking 
them for the purpose from that part of his line not 
menaced. During seasons of inactivity he could 
also furlough his men, and permit them to go to 
their homes and sow or secure their crops, thus pro- 
ducing supplies for their armies. Grant had long 
15 



2i6 GENERAL GRANT. 

felt that concerted and continuous action on the 
part of all the Northern armies was necessary to 
success, and now, having the power, proceeded to 
carry out his plans. To quote his own words: " I 
determined, first, to use the greatest number of 
troops practicable against the armed force of the 
enemy, preventing him from using the same force 
at different seasons against first one and then an- 
other of our armies, and the possibility of repose 
for refitting and producing necessary supplies for 
carrying on resistance. Second, to hammer con- 
tinuously against the armed force of the enemy and 
his resources, until by mere attrition, if in no other 
wav, there should be nothing left to him but an 
equal submission with the loyal section of our com- 
mon country to the Constitution and laws of the 
land." 

At the time of his taking command the opposing 
forces were situated as follows: The line of the Mis- 
sissippi and of the Arkansas was garrisoned by the 
Union forces, thus giving them possession of the 
territory west of the Mississippi and north of the 
Arkansas. South of the latter the territory west 
of the Mississippi was almost wholly in the grasp 
of the enemy. There were a few unimportant points 
in southern Louisiana held by the Northern forces, 
and a garrison near the mouth of the Rio Grande. 
To defend this vast territory the enemy could mus- 
ter an army of eighty thousand effective men, al- 
though probably not more than half that number 
was under arms at any one time. These were di- 
vided into guerrilla l^ands and small, swiftly mov- 
ing columns difficult to discover and strike, but 



COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 21/ 

necessitating the presence of large bodies of troops 
to guard the Mississippi and protect the loyal peo- 
ple of the territory. East of the Mississippi the 
Union line followed the course of the Tennessee and 
Holston Rivers, including nearly all the State of 
Tennessee. West Mrginia was substantially within 
the Northern line. 

Virginia proper was held by the Confederates, 
except that part covered by the Army of the Po- 
tomac, then lying along the north bank of the 
Rapidan, the Potomac River, a small area about 
the mouth of the James, and the garrisons at Fort 
Monroe and Norfolk. Along the Atlantic coast the 
Northern army had effected lodgment at Plymouth, 
Washington, and New Berne in North Carolina, 
Beaufort, Folly and Morris Islands, Hilton Head, 
and Port Royal in South Carolina, and Fernandina 
and St. Augustine in Florida. Key West and Pensa- 
cola, on the Gulf coast, were also held by the Fetl- 
erals. But in the rear of the advanced Union lines 
were active bands of guerrillas and an intensely dis- 
loyal population, rendering protection of the North- 
ern lines of communication necessary for long dis- 
tances. Furthermore, a reign of despotism existed 
in the South, which forced every man and boy 
capable of bearing arms into the ranks, and turned 
those w^ho could not into provosts for arresting de- 
serters and returning them to the army. 

Not only to defeat, but to capture and destroy 
the armies confronting him, and tints break the 
military power of the rebellion, was the gigantic task 
laid upon the shoulders of the new commander in 
chief. With comprehensive genius, untiring en- 



2l8 GENERAL GRANT. 

ergy and patience, and perfect faith in ultimate suc- 
cess, he began his labors. To discover the right 
man for the place and put him there is one of the 
marks of greatness ; and Grant's choice of Sherman 
and Thomas, Meade and Sheridan to be his prin- 
cipal subordinate commanders was not the least 
of the achievements that proved him to possess 
military genius of a high order. 

The Confederate forces east of the Mississippi 
and west of the Alleghanies had been concentrated 
into one great army, commanded by Joseph E. 
Johnston, in Sherman's opinion the ablest general 
of the Confederacy. .This army occupied a strong 
natural position, and was intrenched at Dalton, Ga., 
holding the passes of the Alleghanies, and covering 
Atlanta, an important railway center, and the gate- 
way of Georgia to the North. He had also a large 
cavalry force under General Forrest in northeast 
Mississippi, and garrisons at the principal seaports 
on which to draw in an extremity. Sherman was 
now instructed to move against this army, to break 
it to pieces, and then to penetrate the enemy's coun- 
try as far as possible, destroying his supplies and 
all warlike materials. 

The Confederate forces east of the Alleghanies 
had been massed in another great army, called the 
Army of Northern Mrginia, which now lay on the 
south bank of the Rapidan, extending from Mine 
Run westward, confronting the Army of the Po- 
tomac (which, as we have seen, occupied the north 
bank), and guarding the approaches to Richmond. 
It was commanded l)y Robert E. Lee, unquestion- 
ably the ablest of the Confederate generals. In his 



COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 



219 



power to make dispositions on the battlefield, to 
divine and checkmate the movements of an ad- 
versary, Lee was only surpassed by Grant, but the 
Virginian lacked Grant's broad and comprehensive 
genius, which enabled him to plan campaigns ex- 
tending over the breadth of a continent, every move- 
ment in which should be as completely under his 
control as the pawns in the hand of an accomplished 
chess player. 

The nature of the ground in Lee's rear favored 
him. No position could have been better adapted 
for defense than this planned by Nature. It was 
hilly and broken, a wilderness of forest and swamp 
intercepted by swift streams, flowing east or south- 
east, with the valley of each depressed below the 
general level, and therefore affording excellent lines 
of defense. Lee had intrenched himself on the 
Rapidan, and at intervals all the way back to Rich- 
mond, so that if dislodged from one position he 
could retire to another. He had also another ad- 
vantage in that he moved within the arc of the cir- 
cle, while Grant had the periphery; so that in the 
march for any superior objective point Lee could 
reach and seize it first. 

General George G. Meade (1815-72) was re- 
tained in command of the Army of the Potomac, 
sustaining the same relation toward Grant that 
Sherman and, later, Thomas and Sheridan sus- 
tained, although not so prominently in the public 
eye as they, from the fact that the commander in 
chief established his headquarters with him, and 
personally directed the movements of his army. 
But Grant's orders were in all cases given to 



220 GENERAL GRANT. 

General Aleade, who was charged with their exe- 
cution in detail. 

Before considering this final campaign from the 
Rapidan to the James, and thence to the Appo- 
mattox, let us notice in turn several subordinate 
yet contributory movements, each designed to exert 
its influence upon the general result. When Grant 
assumed command General Banks was engaged in 
an expedition up the Red River against Shreveport, 
La. Grant advised him a few days after that if he 
found it would take from ten to fifteen days longer 
time to capture the city than General Sherman had 
given his ten thousand troops to be absent from 
their command, to return the latter to Sherman 
even if it was necessary to abandon the expedition, 
as this force was necessary for movements east of 
the river; that if his expedition proved successful, 
he should hold Shreveport and the Red River with 
such force as he deemed necessary, and return with 
the remainder to the vicinity of New Orleans, plan- 
ning no more expeditions designed to acquire terri- 
tory, as it would probably be a part of the spring 
campaign to move against Mobile; that it certainly 
w^ould be if troops enough could be collected to 
undertake it without embarrassing other move- 
ments; that New Orleans would be the point of de- 
parture for such an expedition; lastly, that he had 
directed General Steele to make a bona fide move- 
ment and not a feint in Arkansas as suggested by 
him. On March 22d Grant instructed him further: 
If successful against Shreveport, to leave the de- 
fense of the Red River to General Steele and the 
navy, abandon Texas entirely, except his hold on 



COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 221 

the Rio Grande, and so fortify the hne of the Missis- 
sippi that sixteen thousand men could guard it 
from Cairo to its mouth until active operations 
should be resumed west of that river. With the re- 
mainder of his force — estimated at thirty thousand 
men — he was to lose no time in making a demon- 
stration on Mobile, to be followed by an attack in 
force. As his movements were to be co-operative 
with others elsewhere, it was impressed on him that 
he could not move too quickly. Two or more 
ironclads had been ordered to report to Admiral 
Farragut (1801-70), which would give a strong 
naval force to co-operate. He, after consultation 
with Farragut, was to select his own line of ap- 
proach, although Pascagoula, on the Gulf, was sug- 
gested as his base. " Preserve a profound secrecy 
of what you intend doing, and start at the earliest 
possible moment," were the concluding words of 
the order to General Banks. 

]\Ieade was informed that Lee's army would be 
his objective, and that wherever Lee went he must 
be ready to follow. Indeed, the holding of Lee in 
so viselike a grasp that he could not detach a regi- 
ment to the aid of Johnston or to defend Mobile 
was emphasized as one of the leading objects of the 
campaign. General Benjamin T. Butler (1818-93), 
with the Army of the James, comprising twenty- 
three thousand men, held Fort Monroe and Nor- 
folk, and was now re-enforced by Gilmore's com- 
mand of ten thousand men from about Charleston. 
Butler was ordered, April 2, 1864, to co-operate 
with the Army of the F'otomac by moving on Rich- 
mond along the south bank of the James — City 



222 GENERAL GRANT. 

Point, at the head of the lakelike expansion of 
the James, being his first objective point. This he 
was to fortify and use as a base. In the Shenandoah 
Valley Sigel was placed in command, . and ordered 
to send two columns south, one, under Ord and 
Averill, to move from Beverly, the other, under 
Crook, to march from Charleston, on the Kanawha 
(now West Virginia), and operate against the Vir- 
ginia and East Tennessee Railroad, by which 
means Grant hoped to deprive Lee of his granary, 
the Shenandoah Valley, and also to prevent his 
using that valley, as he had done heretofore, as a 
highway for the invasion of the North. 

On March 26th Grant established his headquar- 
ters at Culpeper Courthouse, near that of Gen- 
eral Meade. On May ist, the roads having become 
passable, an order was issued for a general move- 
ment of all the armies not later than the 4th of 
May. For the campaign of the Army of the Poto- 
mac two plans had presented themselves. One was 
to cross the Rapidan bdozc Lee's position and strike 
him on his right flank; the other to cross above 
him, and attack him on his left. If the latter plan 
were followed, Lee would be prevented from invad- 
ing the North, and Richmond would be immedi- 
ately threatened. Its disadvantages were that all 
supplies would have to be moved with the army, 
while it would l)e cut off from all connnunication 
with Butler on the James, Lee's army being inter- 
posed between the two. On the other hand, by 
taking the southerly route, the army could co-oper- 
ate with lUitlcr and use Brandy Station and other 
points on the tide-water rivers as a base of supplies 



COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 223 

until a new base could be established on the York 
or Tames. These considerations led to the selection 
of the lower route. The Army of the Potomac was 
ordered to move on the morning of May 4th. So 
was the Army of the James, and not to halt until 
it had taken Richmond. So was Sigel's column in 
northern and western Virginia. So was Sherman's 
grand army at Chattanooga. There was to be a 
general movement all along the line. Of all the co- 
operating armies none failed to achieve the end de- 
sired except the Army of the James. It should be 
borne in mind that the campaign of the Wilderness 
was planned by Grant, and executed by Meade with 
the expectation that Butler's army would be under 
the walls of Richmond, if not within them, while it 
was being fought. Under the commander that Gen- 
eral Grant wished to lead that army, the Confederate 
capital would doubtless have been captured and the 
Virginia campaign soon ended, but political consid- 
erations prevailed with the President, and Butler, a 
War Democrat, was retained. 

At an early hour on May 4th General Meade 
began moving his army across the Rapidan, the 
cavalry, under General Sheridan, having the ad- 
vance. This army was perhaps one of the best- 
drilled, organized, and equipped bodies of men ever 
brought into the field, and in material unsurpassed. 
It comprised three corps of infantry — the Second, 
Fifth, and Sixth, commanded by Generals Winfield 
S. Hancock, Gouveneur K. Warren, and John Sedg- 
wick respectively — and a cavalry corps under com- 
mand of General Philip H. Sheridan. The artillery, 
commanded by General Henry J. Hunt, was so 



224 



GENERAL GRANT. 



largely in excess as to embarrass the movement of 
the troops, and from the Wilderness Grant ordered 
a number of batteries returned to Washington. 
The Ninth Corps, commanded by General Burn- 
side, at this time an independent organization, was 
to act under the direct orders of Grant. The total 
number in this great army was about one hundred 
and sixteen thousand. 

The army was so organized and drilled that 
every brigade and regiment moved like parts of a 
perfect machine. Its supply train of four thousand 
wagons carried three days' forage and twelve days' 
rations, besides a supply of ammunition, and each 
wagon bore certain hieroglyphics, such as the corps' 
badge, division color, and brigade number, together 
with the nature of its contents, whether forage, ra- 
tions, or ammunition, and the kind of each, so that 
a quartermaster could tell at a glance the corps, di- 
vision, and brigade to which it belonged, and, if 
found astray, restore it to its proper position. The 
methods by which the trains were guarded, empty 
wagons returned, and loaded ones pushed forward 
were admirable and effective. 

A telegraph and signal corps accompanied the 
army, and was another marvel of organization and 
drill. A wagon carrying a battery, telegraph in- 
struments, and operator was assigned to each army, 
corps, division, and headquarters. Wagons loaded 
with light poles followed these. In advance were 
two men and a mule for each wagon, the mule car- 
rying on a reel attached to its pack saddle two hun- 
dred pounds of insulated wire. The moment the 
army went into camp or haltetl for battle the men 



COMMANDS ALL THE ARMI^ . 225 

with the wire and poles at once proceeded to put 
up their Hnes. The mule of each brigade would be 
led to the nearest flank of that brigade, the operator 
would seize the end of the wire, and the mule would 
then be led along the rear of the brigade, the wire 
uncoiling from the reel on his saddle as he advanced 
and falling upon the ground. When the wire was 
uncoiled the mule was led away, and, as the same 
movement had been in progress behind all the bri- 
gades, a line of wire would be lying on the ground 
along the rear of the entire army. These different 
wires were then united and elevated on the poles, 
and as a wagon bearing a telegraph instrument and 
operator was assigned each brigade headquarters 
and the headquarters of the commander in chief, in 
a few moments the commanding general would be 
in instant communication with every brigade com- 
mander in his army. The signal service, on the 
other hand, was designed for the march. A certain 
number of signal officers were assigned each corps, 
and moved in advance, or on either flank when the 
army marched, seized high points of ground, or, if 
in thick forest, climbing the tallest trees, and by 
means of their flags kept the commanders informed 
of the movements of the different corps, and often 
of those of the enemy. 

The Confederate army was composed of the 
First, Second, and Third Army Corps, commanded 
by Generals James Longstreet, Jubal A. Early, and 
Ambrose P. Hill respectively; there was also a 
cavalry corps commanded by General J. E. B. Stu- 
art. In material it was composed of men of the 
same blood and training as the Northern army, 



226 GENERAL GRANT. 

equally well drilled, but not so well organized and 
equipped. Grant's army was the greater in num- 
bers, but this was in a measure compensated for by 
Lee's superior advantages of position. Lee's " ef- 
fective total " with which he could oppose Grant's 
advance was about seventy-five thousand, mostly 
well-seasoned veterans, while many new regiments 
and raw recruits with inexperienced ofBcers were 
included in the Army of the Potomac. 

Many changes of command in both armies oc- 
curred soon after Grant's advance into Mrginia, by 
deaths and other casualties of war. The wounding 
of Longstreet in the Wilderness advanced Robert 
H. Anderson to the head of the First Corps, and 
the death. of Stuart, mortally wounded in his first 
encounter with Sheridan, made General Wade 
Hampton his successor in command of the cavalry 
of Lee's army. The death of General Sedgwick in 
the Wilderness campaign advanced Horatio G. 
Wright to the head of the Sixth Corps of the Army 
of the Potomac. 

Before the army began its advance into Virginia 
Grant received from the President a Godspeed in 
the following words: " Not expecting to see you 
before the spring campaign opens, I wish to ex- 
press in this way my entire satisfaction with what 
you have done up to this time, so far as I under- 
stand it. The particulars of your plans I neither 
know nor seek to know. You are vigilant and self- 
reliant, and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude 
any constraints or restraints upon you. While I 
am very anxious any great disaster or the capture 
of our men in great numbers should be avoided, I 



COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 227 

know these points are less likely to escape your 
attention than they would be mine. If there is any- 
thing wanting which is within my power to give, 
do not fail to let me know it. And now, with a 
brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you." 



CHAPTER XL 

THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 

In the advance to open the Virginia campa'gn, 
the Fifth Corps marched directly for Germania 
Ford, some ten miles below Lee's extreme right, 
a cavalry division preceding it to hold back skir- 
mishers and to capture and hold the ford. Sedgwick 
with the Sixth Corps followed them closely. Han- 
cock with the Second Corps moved by a parallel 
road six miles to the eastward, and crossed at Ely's 
Ford, still farther down the river. No opposition 
was made at either ford, and Grant's assertion that 
the movement was a total surprise to Lee was no 
doubt true. The crossings were seized by the cav- 
alry before daylight, the enemy's pickets guarding 
them being driven in, and the pontoon britlges laid 
before suiirise. By nightfall the whole army had 
crossed, with most of the four thousand wagons of 
the sup])ly train. From Germania Ford the P)rock 
Road lead directly through the Wilderness to Spott- 
sylvania Courthouse, intersecting at Mine Run the 
enemy's position, but well toward his right. Lee's 
head(|uarters were at Orange Courthouse. From 
there two roads ran east to Fredericksburg parallel 
228 




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THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 



229 



to the Wilderness, the most southerly known as the 
Orange Courthouse Plank Road, the most northerly 
as the Orange Turnpike, and both intersecting the 
Brock Road north of the battleground. There were 
also roads east of the battlefield leading from the 
old ground of Chancellorsville to Spottsylvania. 

As soon as the infantry had crossed, Wilson's 
cavalry was pushed forward to Parker's store on the 
Orange Plank Road, and Gregg to the left toward 
Chancellorsville. They were promptly followed by 
the Fifth Corps, with the Sixth in supporting dis- 
tance. Warren with the Fifth Corps reached the 
Wilderness Tavern by noon, and intrenched. Sedg- 
wick was in camp on the right of Warren by sun- 
down. Hancock with the Second Corps moved 
from Ely's Ford parallel to Warren's advance, and 
camped at night six miles east of him Grant, after 
seeing his army in motion, had passed rapidly from 
Culpeper Courthouse, crossed the Rapidan before 
Sedgwick's corps reached it, and established his 
headquarters for the night in a house near the river 
which had been deserted by its tenants. Here, after 
dark, he learned from dispatches that Butler and 
Sherman had moved according to instructions. 

Meantime Lee had not been idle. As soon as he 
was advised that the Federal advance had crossed 
the Rapidan, he moved east to intercept it, Hill's 
and Longstreet's corps by the Orange Plank Road, 
Ewell's by the Orange Turnpike. Longstreet was 
then twenty miles away at Gordonsville, the others 
nearer at hand — Ewell so near, indeed, that he en- 
camped that night but four miles from Mine Run. 
The Federal forces were ordered to move early on 



230 



GENERAL GRANT. 



the morning of the 5th, Warren to Parker's store 
on the Orange Plank Road, displacing Wilson's 
cavalry who were then to advance farther on -to 
Craig's meetinghouse. Sedgwick again supported 
Warren, closing in on his right. Hancock was to 
move southwest to connect with Warren's left, his 
line of battle to reach Shady Grove Church. 

General W^arren came upon the enemy at 6 a. m., 
before reaching Parker's, and, on reporting the 
fact, was ordered to halt and prepare to attack, 
Wright's division of Sedgwick's corps was at 
once ordered to the support of Warren's right, 
and Getty's division of the same corps to march 
by his rear to the support of Warren's left, the 
quickest way of re-enforcing the latter, whose line 
of battle at this time faced the enemy on both 
front and flank — one side on the Orange Plank 
Road, the other on the Orange Turnpike. At 
9 A. M. Hancock was ordered to the support of 
Getty. He himself arrived about noon, but his 
troops at that hour were far in the rear. Warren 
at this time — noon — attacked and gained some 
ground, but no decided advantage. 

The heavy forests and thickets and the absence 
of roads greatly retarded his operations. Getty did 
not succeed in connecting with Warren for some 
time, and during the interval was in a dangerous 
situation. Wilson with his division of cavalry was 
also cut ofif from the rest of the army, being far 
away to the south, and later in the afternoon Sheri- 
dan sent Gregg's division of cavalry in search of 
him. The latter fotmd him at Todd's Tavern, con- 
fronted by a superior force of both cavalry and in- 



\ 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 23 1 

fantry, and retreating before it. The combined 
forces were, however, able to drive the enemy back. 

At 2 p. M. Hancock's troops began to arrive, and 
he was ordered to connect with Getty and attack, 
but the nature of the ground prevented his taking 
position promptly. At four Getty was ordered to 
advance whether Hancock was ready or not. The 
latter, on moving out, found the enemy under Heth 
in force near at hand, and engaged him. Hancock, 
on hearing the roar of battle, promptly ordered up 
Birney's and Alott's divisions, and later Carroll's 
and Owen's brigades, to the support of Getty, and 
thus saved him from being crushed. A fierce strug- 
gle then ensued, and continued until nightfall, nei- 
ther army gaining any decided advantage. 

Immediately on the close of the battle the com- 
mander in chief began making his combinations for 
the next day's conflict. Longstreet he knew to be 
marching with twelve thousand men to re-enforce 
Hill's right, and might join the latter at any mo- 
ment. Grant determined to attack before this junc- 
tion was efifected, and ordered Hancock to assault 
at half-past four o'clock in the morning; but, on 
General Meade's requesting that it be deferred until 
six to enable him to complete his dispositions, he 
modified his order, placing the hour at five. At the 
same time he planned various supporting move- 
ments, designed to keep the enemy employed all 
along his line. Wadsworth with his division lay in 
a line perpendicular to Hill's, and was ordered to 
attack the latter's left at the same hour. Simul- 
taneous attacks were to be made by Sedgwick and 
Warren on their fronts. 
16 



232 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Burnsicle, who was coming up with two divi- 
sions, was ordered to enter between Wadsworth 
and Warren, and assault the moment he got into 
position, and, if he succeeded in breaking the ene- 
my's center, to swing around to the left and double 
up his entire army. Hancock was fully informed as 
to these dispositions, and was given nearly one half 
the Army of the Potomac to operate with. Lee, 
however, was desirous of delaying the attack on 
his right until Longstreet's arrival, and before five 
ordered an assault by his left on the Federal right. 
But the feint was detected by Grant, and availed 
Lee nothing. The right held its ground, and at 
the appointed hour Hancock with half the Army of 
the Potomac attacked Hill, first sending a division 
under General Barlow, with all his artillery, to the 
Catharpin Road, along which he had learned part 
of Longstreet's corps was advancing. A desperate 
conflict of an hour followed; then the enemy broke 
and fled in confusion. 

Had the nature of the ground permitted Han- 
cock to observe this disorganization, and take 
proper advantage of it, it is probable that Lee would 
not have made another stand outside of his intrench- 
ments at Richmond. But it was not observed, and 
Hancock, after pursuing the retreating force a mile 
or more, contented himself with holding his ad- 
vanced position. But in the afternoon Longstreet 
efTected a junction with Hill, and the latter, encour- 
aged by the addition of fresh troops, turned and 
himself attacked. The brigade of Hancock's corps 
in advance was borne back crushed upon the main 
line. Then Mott's division was encountered, and 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 233 

also fell back in confusion ; but the main body com- 
ing up, the advanced position was maintained for 
some hours. Toward night, however, Hancock 
withdrew to the original position held in the morn- 
ing, which had been strongly intrenched. 

Wadsworth was mortally wounded in this bat- 
tle, and was left in the hands of the enemy. On 
the Confederate side General Jenkins was killed, 
and General Longstreet so seriously wounded as 
to be carried from the field. Learning of this, Lee 
took command of his right in person, and at four in 
the afternoon attacked the Federal left, his lines 
moving up under cover of the timber to within a 
hundred yards. An almost hand-to-hand conflict 
ensued, lasting for half an hour, when Ward's bri- 
gade of Birney's division and part of Mott's division 
gave way and retreated in disorder. The enemy, 
under R. H. Anderson, followed up his advantage, 
and succeeded in planting his flags on a part of the 
Federal intrenchments, but was quickly dislodged 
by Carroll's brigade of Gibbon's division, which 
charged at the double quick and drove back the 
Confederates with heavy loss. 

At this time a part of the intrenchments were 
in flames. The bursting shells had set the forests 
on fire, and the terrors of a conflagration were 
added to the horrors of battle. The tide of combat 
had flowed and ebbed over a tract of country aver- 
aging three quarters of a mile in width, and over 
this area the flames now swept, disfiguring the dead 
and burning or suffocating the wounded, who were 
unable to save themselves. The repulse of Ander- 
son created a panic in the Confederate ranks. Had 



234 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Hancock taken advantage of it by ordering a bayo- 
net charge of his entire force, he would no doubt 
have won the day. But the Union general knew 
nothing of his enemy's condition, and, as his men 
Avere short of ammunition, they did not follow. The 
golden opportunity was lost. 

During this time the battle had been raging 
fiercely in front of Sedgwick's, Warren's, and Burn- 
side's corps, with no signal advantage to either side, 
except that Lee had been prevented from sending 
re-enforcements to his right. As night fell Lee 
withdrew his entire army into his intrenchments, 
and skirmishers, sent out on the morning of the 
7th to discover his position, found it withdrawn in 
places a mile and a half from the Federal line, nor 
could a reconnoissance in force during the day 
tempt him to come out for a renewal of the combat. 
" More desperate fighting," says Grant in his Me- 
moirs, " has not been witnessed on this continent 
than that of the 5th and 6th of Alay." 

On the afternoon of the 7th Grant learned from 
Washington that Sherman had probably attacked 
Johnston that day, and that Butler had carried City 
Point by surprise on the 5th. Well aware that Lee 
had been for several hours in receipt of this news, 
and fearing lest the latter should move rapidly to 
Richmond and crush Butler before he could join 
him, Grant determined on the bold and somewhat 
hazardous movement of marching his army by Lee's 
right flank and taking a new position at Spottsyl- 
vania Courthouse, between the Confederate army 
and Richmond. Spottsylvania was an admirable 
defensive position, being situated on the ridge di- 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 235 

viding the Ny and Po Rivers, a short distance above 
where the Mat, Ta, Po, and Ny joined to form the 
Mattapony River. 

It was vitally necessary that the coup should be 
kept secret from the enemy, and a night march was 
therefore determined upon. The order for it was 
given to Meade at half-past six on the morning of 
the 7th, and directed him to make all his prepara- 
tions that day, one army corps to take position at 
Spottsylvania Courthouse, one at Todd's Tavern, 
a third near the intersection of the Piney Branch 
and Spottsylvania Road with the road leading from 
Alsops to Old Courthouse. " If this is done," it 
continued, " throw trains forward early in the morn- 
ing to the Ny River. Let Hancock remain where 
he is until Warren passes him, then let him follow 
and become the right of the new line. Let Burn- 
side march to Piney Branch Church, Sedgwick 
along the pike to Chancellorsville, and on to his 
destination; Burnside along the plank road to its 
intersection with the Orange and Fredericksburg 
Plank Road, and then follow Sedgwick to his des- 
tination. Let all vehicles be got out of hearing of 
the enemy before the troops move, and then let 
them get off quietly." All hospitals were to be 
moved that day to Chancellorsville. " It is more 
than probable," the order continued, " that the ene- 
my will concentrate for a heavy attack on Hancock 
this afternoon; if they do, be prepared to resist 
them, and follow up with your whole force any suc- 
cess you may gain. Such a result would neces- 
sarily modify these instructions." 

The enemy did not attack, however, and soon 



236 GENERAL GRANT. 

after dark Warren withdrew quietly from his posi- 
tion on the Confederate front and began his march, 
Sedgwick quickly following. The movement was 
a complete surprise to Lee; he did not for a mo- 
ment divine its purpose, but thought it a retreat to 
the Federal base of supplies at Fredericksburg, and 
so informed his government. But the movement 
failed as a surprise purely from one of those acci- 
dents impossible to foresee, which so often deter- 
mine the fate of battles. Lee, hearing of the Federal 
wagon trains which were sent off on the 7th to the 
eastward of the roads the troops were to use, con- 
cluded, as before remarked, that his opponent was 
retreating to Fredericksburg, and ordered Ander- 
son, now commanding Longstreet's corps, to move 
to Spottsylvania next morning, the 8th, and occupy 
it. But the forests were so thick with fire and smoke 
that Anderson could not bivouac within them, and 
so marched on all night to Spottsylvania, occupy- 
ing it before the Union advance came up. Thus 
P'ate a second time in one short campaign robbed 
Grant of a signal advantage, the first having been 
when General Hancock failed to take advantage of 
the confusion in the Confederate ranks on the morn- 
ing of the 6th. 

Sheridan Iiad on the 7th ordered Wilson to seize 
Spottsylvania, and Alerritt with two brigades of 
cavalry to guard the bridge over the Po — a narrow 
but deep stream — which Anderson would have to 
cross to reach the town ; but Meade countermanded 
this order to Mcrritt, and Anderson therefore found 
no opposition to his advance. Wilson, it is true, 
had seized the town and held it with one division 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 237 

of cavalry, but could not hold it against Anderson's 
entire corps. When Warren's advance reached 
Spottsylvania it found the enemy intrenched, and 
Warren, supposing it to be a small body of cavalry, 
ordered an assault at once. Quickly repulsed, he 
reformed his line and threw his whole corps upon 
the enemy, this time gaining a position in his front, 
where he intrenched, while his right and left di- 
visions drove the enemy back some distance. 

As soon as Warren's movement had fairly 
begun, Grant passed on in advance of him, ac- 
companied by Meade and their stafif and a small 
escort of cavalry, and established headquarters at 
Piney Branch Church, where Sedgwick lay with 
his corps. Here he could survey all parts of the 
field. Being desirous of crushing Anderson before 
Lee could re-enforce him, he ordered a general 
attack — Sedgwick to support Warren and Hancock 
at Todd's Tavern on the Brock Road, and Burn- 
side, who was guarding the wagon trains on the 
extreme left, to be ready to attack at a moment's 
notice. But something detained Sedgwick — it was 
nearly night before his junction with Warren was 
efifected — and then Warren assaulted by piecemeal 
instead of en masse, sending in one division at a 
time, each being repulsed in succession. 

Here Grant lost another golden opportunity, 
first from Sedgwick's failure to arrive in time, and, 
second, through the incapacity of his corps com- 
mander, Warren. The latter was a brave and gal- 
lant officer, who would have made an admirable 
division commander, but was too much given to 
forecasting possible events and anticipating details 



238 



GENERAL GRANT. 



to become a good corps commander. Grant thus 
aptly characterized hhn: "When he received an 
order to do anything it would at once occur to his 
mind how all the balance of the army should be en- 
gaged so as properly to co-operate with him. His 
ideas were generally good, but he would forget that 
the person giving him orders had thought of others 
at the same time he had of him. In like manner 
when he did get ready to execute an order, after 
giving most intelligent instructions to division com- 
manders, he would go in with one division, holding 
the others in reserve until he could superintend 
their movements in person also, forgetting that di- 
vision commanders could execute an order with- 
out his presence." This disability General Grant 
believed to be constitutional and beyoung his con- 
trol. For a small command he declared him to 
be of " superior ability, quick perception, and per- 
sonal courage." 

As late as the morning of the 8th Lee believed 
that his opponent's objective was Fredericksburg, 
and dispatched Early — now in command of Hill's 
corps — to Spottsylvania by the Brock Road — the 
same the Federal troops had advanced upon — and 
the latter only discovered his commander's mistake 
when he came squarely upon Hancock's force at 
Todd's Tavern as it was marching toward the town. 
Hancock turned to defend his rear, and was thus 
l)rcventcd from joining in the first day's battle of 
Si)ottsylvania. Early, however, suffered greater 
detention, not only from battle, but by being forced 
to make a detour in order to gain his position. 
V>y the 9th the various corps had all been massed 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN 



239 



on the field, and the sanguinary battle of Spottsyl- 
vania Courthouse began. 

The Federal dispositions for the attack were as 
follows: Warren had the right, covering the Brock 
and other roads converging on Spottsylvania. Sedg- 
wick was posted on his left; Burnside on the ex- 
treme left. Hancock — who was ordered up from 
Todd's Tavern as soon as it became apparent that 
Early had left his front — took post on Warren's 
right, thus holding the extreme Federal right. One 
division — Mott's — was left at Todd's until after- 
noon. With the other three Hancock formed line 
of battle on a hill overlooking the Po, and early in 
the afternoon was ordered to cross and, if possible, 
gain the enemy's flank. 

General Sedgwick had been killed in the morn- 
ing by a sharpshooter as he stood reconnoitering 
the enemy's position, and Wright had been assigned 
to his command. Hancock, after crossing the Po, 
found that he was upon the left flank of Lee's army, 
as desired, but that he was separated from it and 
from Meade's force also by the Po, here a very 
winding stream, at the point where Hancock crossed 
flowing nearly dvie east, but a little below turning 
and running nearly due south, thus cutting him off 
from both armies. The only advantage gained by 
his crossing was that it compelled Lee to re-enforce 
his left, thus weakening his right and center. On 
the morning of the loth Hancock attempted to re- 
cross the Po in his front and attack Lee's left, but 
was met by a portion of Early's command, which 
had been transferred from the right under cover of 
the darkness, and, after throwing one brigade 



240 



GENERAL GRANT. 



across — which found the enemy intrenched and in 
a commanding position — he abandoned the attempt. 

Grant took advantage of this weakening of Lee's 
center to meet Hancock's movement by ordering 
Warren and Wright to attack that portion of his 
line. Hancock had recrossed the Po with two di- 
visions — Gibbon's and Birney's — which were placed, 
Gibbon's on the right of Warren and Birney's in 
his rear as a reserve. The third division — Barlow's 
— by this movement was left unsupported on the 
south bank of the Po, and the enemy, seeing this, 
attacked the latter in force, but was gallantly re- 
pulsed with great loss. They renewed the assault, 
and were again repulsed with even greater slaughter, 
but General Barlow was shortly withdrawn with- 
out being again molested. 

Meanwhile before noon Warren had been re- 
connoitering for his assault upon the center; he 
found between him and the enemy a deep ravine so 
overgrown with trees and bushes as to be almost 
impenetrable, but no other great natural obstacles, 
and recommended an attack. Wright also sent out 
a rcconnoitering party on his front, which gained a 
position in advance of his main line. He then 
formed an assaulting column of twelve regiments, 
and assigned Colonel Emory Upton, of the One 
Hundred and Twenty-first New York Volunteers, 
to command it. About four in the afternoon a 
general assault was ordered, Warren's and Wright's 
corps, with Mott's division of Hancock's corps, 
being ordered to attack simultaneously. In a few 
moments within the deep forests above the Con- 
federate line a fierce conflict began. From the 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 



241 



station in the rear of Warren, where the two com- 
manding generals stood, Httle could be seen, but 
the explosions of musketry and artillery marked 
pretty accurately the position of the combatants. 

General Warren was repulsed with loss, but the 
enemy did not pursue his advantage. Wright had 
been more successful, Upton with his storming 
party having carried the enemy's intrenchments, 
and then, opening and turning to left and right, 
captured several guns and hundreds of prisoners. 
Mott was ordered to his assistance, but failed to 
obey the order. Other troops were then ordered 
to his support, but were so long in moving that 
Grant reluctantly sent a message to Upton to with- 
draw ; the latter, however, was so confident of being 
able to hold the point of vantage gained that the 
order was countermanded, and a renewal of the 
general assault commanded. Hancock had now 
returned from bringing ofif Barlow, and his corps, 
together with Warren's and Wright's, was hurled 
a second time upon the Confederate line; but the 
enemy's works were too well constructed and 
manned to be carried by any force that could be 
concentrated upon any one point, and, although 
the troops succeeded in getting up to and, in some 
cases, over the defenses, they failed to carry them, 
and as night fell were withdrawn. Upton secured 
his prisoners, but not his captured guns. For his 
gallant conduct Grant very properly conferred upon 
him on the spot the rank of brigadier general. 

In this battle also one of those annoying acci- 
dents occurred by which a signal advantage was 
lost to the Union forces. Burnside on the extreme 



242 



GENERAL GRANT. 



left, meeting with little or no opposition, had ad- 
vanced to within a few hundred yards of Spottsyl- 
vania Courthouse, thus practically turning Lee's 
right. He was ignorant of this, however, and 
Grant, occupied with the assaults in the center, was 
not apprised of it in time to improve the golden 
opportunity. At night, finding that the movement 
had separated him from Wright's command, his 
supporting corps, he was ordered to fall back and 
join the latter — a manoeuver which necessitated a 
retreat of nearly a mile, and lost to the Union army 
the advantage gained. Not once during the day 
had the enemy shown a disposition to come out 
of his intrenchments to give battle, except in the 
case of the two attacks on Barlow's division, when 
he had been repulsed with heavy loss. 

On the nth there was almost no fighting. Dis- 
patches from Butler through the War Department 
reported that his cavalry under Kautz had destroyed 
the railroad south of Petersburg, thus cutting ofT 
Beauregard from Richmond, and had defeated Hill 
with great loss to the latter; also that Sheridan, 
Avho had been sent around the left of Lee's army 
to attack his cavalry and communications, had de- 
stroyed ten miles of railway between the latter and 
Richmond, with one and one half million rations, 
and most of the necessary medical stores for the 
Confederate army. 

On the 1 2th the battle of Spottsylvania was re- 
sumed. A salient in the enemy's line had been dis- 
covered by Mott during a reconnoissancc made on 
the iith, and this it was decided to make the point 
of attack. Hancock with three divisions was ordered 



1 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 243 

to join Burnside with the Ninth Corps at 4 a. m. 
in an attack on the salient, Hancock attacking on 
the rig-ht, Burnside on the left. Both movements 
were to be kept secret from the enemy, and to be 
performed by night. Grant sent two officers of his 
stafif to Burnside to impress upon him the necessity 
for vigorous and concerted action, and the same 
charge was given to Hancock. It is barely day- 
break at 4 A. M. in Virginia in May, but on this par- 
ticular morning a thick fog intensified the gloom, 
and delayed the attack for half an hour. At half- 
past four, however, the assaulting column moved 
slowly forward. Barlow on the left in double col- 
umn, Birney on the right, Mott behind Birney, with 
Gibbon in reserve, pressed up an ascending, heavily 
wooded slope, struggled through a marsh, and then 
within two hundred yards of the vague outlines of 
the Confederate breastworks gave a loud cheer, and 
with a rush charged up to and over the walls. 

Ritrht and left entered almost at the same mo- 
ment. The defenders, though taken by surprise, 
rallied and fought desperately with pistols and 
clubbed muskets, but were quickly overpowered, 
and the Stars and Stripes were raised over the sali- 
ent. Twenty or more guns with their equipment, 
several thousand stand of small arms, and some four 
thousand prisoners were among the fruits of this 
brilliant coup. Hancock, never deficient in prompti- 
tude, turned the captured guns on his enemy, and 
advanced within his intrenchments. Lee resisted 
with his utmost power, and, after a gallant struggle, 
Hancock was forced to fall back as far as the cap- 
tured salient, where he maintained his position. 



244 GENERAL GRANT. 

Meanwhile Burnside on the left had reached the 
enemy's parapet, and one division — Potter's — had 
scaled it, but was unable to hold the wall. When 
Hancock was pressed back Wright was ordered to 
his support, and arrived about six o'clock. 

At eight General Warren was also ordered up, 
but was so slow in obeying that his orders were 
again and again repeated. At last, about eleven 
o'clock. Grant gave Meade authority to remove him 
from his command if he did not act promptly. The 
battle continued all day and until three o'clock in 
the morning. Five times Lee, ordering up re-en- 
forcements from his extreme left, assaulted des- 
perately, but without moving Hancock from his 
position. The latter, massing his artillery on the 
heights behind, and firing over the heads of his 
troops, made deadly havoc in the enemy's ranks, 
and aided his men in maintaining their position. 

The forests between the foes were leveled by 
shot and shell as if by an army of woodcutters. 
Trees eighteen inches in diameter were shorn off 
by minie balls. The losses of the enemy were enor- 
mous. Grant reported that whole organizations 
w^ere obliterated, naming a division, a brigade, and 
a regiment. His army also suffered severely, but 
not even a company lost its autonomy. After the 
battle, it is true, Warren's corps was broken up 
temporarily, one division being given to Wright, 
one to Hancock, and the third left with Warren, 
although Meade ordered his chief of staff. General 
Humphreys, to remain with the division and give 
it orders in his name. 

There was little or no fighting on the 13th. the 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 245 

troops being engaged in the burial of the dead. On 
this day Grant wrote to Washington, recommend- 
ing for promotion the brave men who had shown 
themselves worthy of it during the past eight days 
of battle. After naming Wright and Gibbon for 
major generals, Colonels Carroll, Candless, and 
Upton for brigadier generals, Hancock and Dodge 
for brigadier generals in the regular army, and 
Humphreys as major general, he added: " General 
Meade has more than met my most sanguine ex- 
pectations. He and Sherman are the fittest officers 
for large commands I have come in contact with. 
If their services can be rewarded by promotion to 
the rank of major generals in the regular army, the 
honor would be worthily bestowed, and I would 
feel personally gratified. I would not like to see 
one of these promotions at this time without the 
other." Grant's wishes were complied with. 

It rained almost continuously from the 12th to 
the 17th, putting a stop to nearly all operations. 
On the 15th Grant heard from Butler that he had 
captured the outer works at Drury's Bluff, on the 
James, and had cut the railroad and telegraph south 
of Richmond on the Danville system; and the next 
day from Sherman that he had driven Johnston out 
of Dalton, Ga., and was following him south; also 
from Sheridan that he had passed the outer defenses 
of Richmond. That city was for the time being 
isolated from the world, every railroad and telegraph 
line leading out of it having been cut by the dar- 
ing Union raiders. 

On the night of the 17th hostilities were re- 
sumed, Hancock and Wright marching back to 



246 



GENERAL GRANT. 



their old positions, and at 4 a. m. making an unsuc- 
cessful assault on the Confederate lines. The 17th 
proved a day of evil tidings. News was received 
that Sigel had been badly defeated at New Market, 
in the valley of Virginia, and was retreating. He 
was promptly relieved, and Hunter assigned to his 
command. Banks had also been defeated in Louisi- 
ana, and had been superseded by Canby. Butler 
had been driven from Drury's Bluff, but still 
held the Petersburg Road. These tidings caused 
the commander some anxious moments, for these 
disasters would inevitably lead to the re-enforce- 
ment of General Lee both from the south and from 
the valley. 

Grant determined to effect another flank move- 
ment before the new troops should arrive, the James 
River this time being his objective. His prepara- 
tions were made with his accustomed vigor. He 
changed his base of supplies from Fredericksburg 
to Port Royal, on the Rappahannock, and later to 
White House, on the Pamunkey. One hundred 
guns with their equipments were returned to Wash- 
ington as being in excess of the artillery required. 
The movement south began at twelve on the night 
of the 19th, Hancock leading it by moving his force 
along the line of the Richmond and Fredericksburg 
Railroad, with orders to advance as far toward 
Richmond as he could, fighting the enemy wherever 
he might meet him. 

If Lee pursued with his main body, the other 
three corps, which had been massed as closely to 
his front as possible, were to follow and attack be- 
fore he could intrench. But Lee, although Grant 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 247 

gave him abundant opportunity, could not be in- 
duced to leave his intrenchments and fight in the 
open. The challenge which Grant gave by detach- 
ing one corps and sending it unsupported in ad- 
vance, was not accepted, and the conclusion of the 
Union commander was that Lee would act only 
on the defensive, and that he might continue his 
movement with little danger of interruption from 
his adversary. 

Before Grant entered upon the Virginia cam- 
paign of May, 1864, he said to Sherman, " Rebel 
armies are now the strategic points to strike." In 
a communication to Meade he wrote: " Lee's army 
will be your objective point. Wherever Lee's army 
goes, you will go also; " and to an intimate military 
friend Grant remarked, in one of those characteristic 
phrases of simple directness peculiar to him, " I 
feel as certain of crushing Lee and capturing Rich- 
mond as I do of dying." At the close of the first 
day's fierce fighting in the Wilderness, with its 
heavy losses of thousands killed, wounded, or cap- 
tured, a young officer from a distant part of the 
battlefield presented himself, bringing bad news 
and a gloomy countenance to the chief; but, noth'- 
ing daunted or disheartened, the indomitable Grant 
replied: "It is all right, Wilson. We move for- 
ward at four o'clock in the morning. We are going 
through; there is no doubt about it." The general 
was almost the only man in our army that was not 
dismayed. Those nearest to Grant deemed it mar- 
velous that he could remain calm and unmoved 
under such an unexpected meeting with Lee in the 
Wilderness, and yet abate no jot of heart or hope, 
17 



248 



GENERAL GRANT. 



but with absolute confidence press right onward. 
His was 

" A buoyant heart, a never-quailing soul, 
A purpose swerveless as the hests of fate." 

When the order came from Grant to advance 
at dayHght and to attack the enemy wherever he 
could be found, both armies alike felt that the man 
had at length appeared with but two words in his 
military vocabulary, Victory or Annihilation, Lee 
himself sharing in this feeling. Instead of falling 
back, as the Army of the Potomac had always done 
in similar circumstances, the battalions of the North 
moved forward at break of day. An aid endeav- 
ored to deter the general from taking up Burnside's 
bridge over the Rapidan, and he answered, " One 
bridge and the ford will be sufficient to cross all 
the survivors of this army if we should have to fall 
back." When Grant stripped his commissary trains 
of their guards to fill a gap in his long line of battle, 
thereby exposing his army to the loss of all its pro- 
visions,' he grimly replied, " When this army is 
whipped, it will not want any provisions." Later 
on he wrote to Washington: "This army has now 
won a most decisive victory and follozccd tJic oiciny. 
This is all that it ever wanted to make it as good an 
army as ever fought a battle." 

Again Grant connnunicates to the War Depart- 
ment a dispatch containing one of his most cele- 
brated phrases: " We have now ended the eighth 
day of very hard fighting. The result up to this 
time is very nuich in our favor. Our losses have 
been heavv, as well as those of the enemy. I think 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 



249 



I 



the loss of the enemy must be greater. We have 
taken more than five thousand prisoners in battle, 
while he has taken from us but few, except stragglers, 
/ propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all sum- 
mer T Of Butler Grant wrote: "His army, there- 
fore, though in a position of great security, was as 
completely shut off from further operations against 
Richmond as if he had been in a bottle strongly 
corked. It required comparatively a small force of 
the enemy to hold him there." Grant's orders to 
Hancock were to " Fight the enemy wherever he 
can be found"; and to Sherman he says: " Lee is 
averse to going out of Virginia, and if the cause of 
the South is lost, he wants Richmond to be the last 
place evacuated. If he has such views, it may be 
well to indulge him until we get everything else 
in our hands." Grant writes to the War Depart- 
ment that he wishes all the crops destroyed in the 
Shenandoah Valley, " so that crows flying over it 
for the balance of this season will have to carry 
their provender with them"; and to Sheridan he 
says, " If this war is to last another year, we want 
the Shenandoah Valley to remain a barren waste." 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 

The country south of the Po differs from that 
north of it, being open and cultivated, with broad 
and good roads. The Northern generals, however, 
had no reliable maps of the region, and were forced 
to depend upon scouts and reconnoissances to lo- 
cate the roads in advance of each corps. Through 
this open country Hancock in advance marched 
first easterly to Guiney's Station on the Fredericks- 
burg Railroad, then southerly to Bowling Green 
and Milford, reaching the latter place on the night 
of the 21 st, and encountering there a part of Pick- 
ett's division, which was hastening forward from 
Richmond to re-enforce Lee, as Grant had expected. 
A brief conflict served to scatter them, with a loss 
of several hundred prisoners. This same day — the 
21 st — Warren left his camps and marched to Gui- 
ney's Station, reaching there at nightfall. This 
manoeuver left two corps in Lee's front in isolated 
positions, cither of which Lee might have attacked 
with superior force. Yet he made no attempt upon 
either, and the opportunity passed. It was perhaps 
the most daring small movement every played on 
the chess board of war, and shows Grant's perfect 
250 




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SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 25 1 

confidence that his adversary had been so punished 
that he would not under any circumstances give 
battle in open field. Lee no doubt suspected a ruse 
dc guerre. By the morning of the 22d Burnside's 
and Wright's corps were at Guiney's Station, and 
the whole army was in motion. 

The first defensive position of importance south 
of Spottsylvania is the North Anna, a deep but not 
rapid stream flowing southeast into the Pamunkey. 
To the south bank of this river Lee, always moving 
by interior lines, transferred his army, and when 
the invading force reached the north bank it found 
him intrenched on the south side, with his center at 
Ox Ford, his left wing reaching back to the Little 
River, an affluent of the Anna, joining it a few miles 
below, and his right extended eastward, both wings 
forming an acute angle when regarded from the 
center. Warren's and Wright's corps had marched 
to cross the Anna at Jericho Ford, Hancock at the 
Wooden Bridge, near the crossing of the Richmond 
and Fredericksburg Railroad, a distance of six miles 
intervening between the two points. Burnside's 
corps moved by a middle road, which crossed the 
Anna at Ox Ford, the point before described as 
being the center of Lee's position, and which was 
nearer the Wooden Bridge than Jericho Ford. 
Burnside was confronted at this ford by the Con- 
federate army, and could not cross. Hancock on 
the left and the corps of Wright and Warren on 
the right, on crossing the river, were separated by 
General Lee's entire army, which, as we have 
seen, extended from the North Anna at Ox Ford 
south to the Little River. 



252 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Hancock after crossing formed his line of battle 
facing west; Warren -and Wright, on the other 
hand, faced east. To re-enforce the right wing 
from the left, and vice versa, the North Anna would 
have to be crossed and recrossed, and a march of 
over six miles made. Lee, however, could concen- 
trate rapidly at any point nearly his whole force. 
Here again a great opportunity w^as given him, but 
he did not improve it by coming out of his works 
and attacking, although he had been largely re-en- 
forced. For several days the situation remained 
unchanged, Hancock confronting Lee on the east, 
Warren and Wright on the west, while Burnside, 
with one division only on the north bank of the 
Anna at Ox Ford — one division having been sent 
to support Hancock and one to re-enforce Warren 
and Wright — threatened his center. 

Finding that Lee would not fight, Grant decided 
to make another attempt to place his army between 
the former and Richmond, and, if not successful, 
at least plant it on the James nearer the Confederate 
stronghold. Again he shifted his base of supplies, 
this time from Port Royal to White House, on the 
Pamunkey, w^hich place was connected by rail with 
Richmond, the wagon trains crossing overland and 
the supplies being sent around by water. Butler 
was ordered to co-operate by sending Smith's corps 
to the White House. From his present position to 
turn Lee's left would necessitate the crossing of 
three rivers — the Little, New Found, and South 
Anna, all considerable streams flowing southeast- 
erly to form the Pannmkey. To turn Lee's right 
was impossible, since it rested on a large swamp. 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 253 

Grant again determined on a movement by his left 
flank, and to cross the Pamunkey at Hanover Town 
below the junction of the three rivers named. Again 
his right was withdrawn secretly by night, recrossed 
the North Anna, marched around the center, and 
ofif southeasterly to strike Hanover Town and se- 
cure the crossing at Littlepage's Bridge and Tay- 
lor's Ford. Wright's " best division," with Sheri- 
dan's cavalry — which had now rejoined the main 
body — was detailed on this service, the movement 
commencing on the night of the 25th. At the 
same moment the other divisions began moving 
for the same point. Burnside's corps was to fol- 
low Wright's, Hancock's to bring up the rear. 

The movement was completely successful, the 
Pamunkey being crossed and Hanover Town 
gained almost without striking a blow. Hanover 
is but twenty miles from Richmond, but the country 
between is a difficult one for an army to operate in, 
being low, swampy, and intersected by sluggish 
streams. Two roads led from Hanover to Rich- 
mond, the most direct crossing the Chickahominy 
River at Meadow Ridge, near the Central Railroad 
Bridge, the other via New Cold Harbor and Old 
Cold Harbor. A few miles out these roads inter- 
sected a third, running by way of Mechanicsville 
to Richmond. The Chickahominy is the only large 
river between the Pamunkey and James, and, after 
flowing southeast about midway between the two, 
turns south and falls into the latter stream. 

From Hanover Sheridan was sent toward Me- 
chanicsville to discover Lee's position. He found 
his cavalry a short distance out, dismounted and 



254 



GENERAL GRANT. 



intrenched, and, after a sharp skirmish, dislodged 
and scattered them. On the 29th the different corps 
advanced some three miles — Wright's toward Han- 
over Courthouse, Hancock's toward Totopotomoy 
Creek, Warren's to the left on the Shady Grove 
Church Road — without meeting the enemy in force ; 
but Hancock the next day, on reaching the line of 
the Totopotomoy, found him in a strong position 
behind defenses. In making dispositions some 
fighting occurred, but the Confederates were easily 
driven back. W'ith the evening Grant received 
news of the arrival of Smith's corps at White House, 
and ordered Sheridan to send a cavalry force to 
guide him to the main army and to caution him 
to be on his guard against a sudden dash of the 
enemy while on the march. 

On the 31st Sheridan with his main force ad- 
vanced on Old Cold Harbor, and after a sharp 
action captured it; but the enemy, well aware of 
its importance to Grant, soon returned with a larger 
force, hoping to retake it. Sheridan was about re- 
treating, being greatly outnumbered, but, receiving 
orders at the critical moment to hold it at all haz- 
ards, he turned the enemy's own guns upon him, 
and gallantly held his ground. Night fell before the 
en^my could make ready, and the assault was post- 
poned until morning. Meantime Wright's corps, 
which had had the Federal right, was ordered to 
March direct to Cold Harbor, which was on the 
left, and relieve Sheridan. The men toiled on all 
night. It was expected that they would arrive by 
daylight, but it was nine o'clock on the morning 
of June 1st before they came up. Meantime Sheri- 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 255 

dan's troopers had repulsed two fierce assaults with 
heavy loss to the enemy, and the latter, seeing 
Wright's corps advancing, sullenly retreated. 
Smith had also been ordered forward from White 
House to Cold Harbor, but by a subordinate's blun- 
der his order read Newcastle instead of Cold Har- 
bor, so that it was three in the afternoon ere he 
arrived. He brought from Butler's army twelve 
thousand five hundred men, but a division was left 
at White House in reserve for the time being. 

Lee's line now extended from Atlee's Station, 
on the Virginia Central Railroad, southeast to the 
vicinity of Cold Harbor. General Warren's corps 
held the left, extending to the IMechanicsville Road, 
being about three miles south of the Totopotomoy, 
Wright and Smith held the extreme left at Cold 
Harbor. Burnside was on the right of Warren. 
Hancock held the extreme right after the with- 
drawal of General Wright. 

By six o'clock on the afternoon of June ist 
Wright and Smith were ready to assault, and car- 
ried the enemy's first line of rifle pits in their front, 
capturing nearly eight hundred prisoners. Simul- 
taneously the enemy directed three assaults, one 
after the .other, against General Warren, but all 
were handsomely repulsed with heavy loss. " There 
was no officer more capable, nor one more prompt 
in acting, than Warren when the enemy forced him 
into it," was Grant's comment on this action. Han- 
cock and Burnside were also attacked at the same 
time, but only as a feint to relieve Anderson, who 
was being hard pushed by Wright and Smith. The 
enemy continued his attacks throughout the night, 



256 GENERAL GRANT. 

but failed utterly to regain his lost position. Grant 
now used Old Cold Harbor as a pivot around which 
to swing his right, and extend his line on the left 
or south. Hancock during the night of the ist was 
moved to the left of Wright, being directed to at- 
tack on the morning of the 2d, but the heat and 
dust were so great and the roads so obscure that 
he did not gain his position as early as was ex- 
pected, and the assault was postponed until the 3d. 
Warren's corps had by that time moved south to 
connect with Smith, Hancock was on the left of 
Wright, and Burnside, at Bethesda Church, on 
Lee's left, northwest of Cold Harbor, in reserve. 

Lee readjusted his lines before the attack. They 
then extended from the Totopotomoy to New Cold 
Harbor. Grant's from Bethesda Church to the 
Chickahominy, where Sheridan was reconnoitering 
with a view to securing the crossings. At half- 
past four on the morning of the 3d Hancock, 
Wright, and Smith were to assault in their fronts, 
and Warren and Burnside to supjwrt them by 
threatening Lee's left. They were themselves to as- 
sault, however, if it appeared that Lee was weaken- 
ing his left to strengthen his right. Barlow's and 
(iibbon's divisions were selected by Hancock for 
the assault in his front; they rushed forward through 
thickets and swamjis under a heavy fire of both 
artillery and musketry, and carried the enemy's 
advanced position — a deep cut in the roadway — 
besides capturing three guns and several hundred 
prisoners. Gibbon met with morasses and ravines 
in his front, and was only able t<T gain a position 
nearer the enemy. He, as well as Barlow, in- 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 257 

trenched and held firmly the point of vantage 
gained. Wright's corps carried the enemy's outer 
rifle pits. Smith's had the warmest work of any, 
the ground it charged over being an open plain 
exposed both to a direct and enfilading fire. A 
ravine sufficiently deep to protect men from the 
cross fire and partially from the direct was in his 
front, and placing one division in this, with the 
other two on their right and left as supports, he, 
too, succeeded in gaining the enemy's outer rifle pits. 
Warren and Burnside also won n-earer positions, 
the only result of the severe fighting being that the 
army slightly advanced its lines and in more regu- 
lar order. Firing ceased about half-past seven in 
the morning. Some three hours later Grant visited 
all his corps commanders to inspect the positions 
gained, and learn if, in their opinion, a renewal of 
hostilities would promise success. They were not 
sanguine of a favorable issue, and he therefore or- 
dered General Meade to cease all further offensive 
action, the army intrenching and making secure 
the line gained. 

Grant always regretted having ordered this sec- 
ond assault at Cold Harbor. The advantage gained 
not compensating, in his opinion, for the thousands 
of brave men sacrificed. Soon it was reported that 
many wounded men were suffering and uncared for 
between the lines of the two armies, and on the 5th 
Grant wrote to Lee suggesting that thereafter, when 
no battle was raging, unarmed men bearing litters 
might be sent to any point between the picket or 
skirmish lines to collect the dead and wounded 
without molestation from either side. Lee in reply 



258 



GENERAL GRANT. 



feared that this might be misunderstood, and pro- 
posed instead a flag of truce when either party 
wished to remove their dead or wounded. Grant 
acceded to this, and on the 6th wrote that he would 
send out a party with a flag that day between 12 m. 
and 3 P. M. Lee repHed that he could not consent 
to a removal of the dead and wounded in this way, 
but that a formal and specific request should be 
made under protection of a flag of truce. Grant 
then wrote asking for a suspension of hostilities 
until the wounded could be collected, which Lee 
granted; but delays in transmitting the letters 
brought the 7th before parties could be sent out, 
and then all but two of the wounded were dead. 

The difficulty of conducting operations in the 
heavily timbered swamps of the Chickahominy, to- 
gether with Lee's proximity to Richmond, led Grant 
to decide on still another of those brilliant flank 
movements by which he had carried his army al- 
most to the confines of the Confederate capital. 
This movement, the most brilliant and hazardous 
of all, was to place his army on the south bank of 
the James, and effect a junction with r)Utler's, 
which, as we have seen, had been operating in that 
quarter with but indifferent success. The difficul- 
ties were many. He must steal away from under 
the intrenchments of a watchful enemy, who from 
previous experiences was on the alert for a move- 
ment of this character, and who, having the interior 
line and better roads, had every facility for check- 
mating it. The Chickahominy River flowed in his 
front, every bridge across it destroyed, the fords 
guarded, and its banks lined with vast swamps. 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 259 

And after the Chickahominy the James, also un- 
bridged and guarded by a watchful foe. Butler 
was fifty miles away. Even if Lee did not attack 
Grant's army while on the march, there was danger 
that he might rapidly transfer his forces to the 
south bank of the James and crush Butler before 
Grant could come to his aid. The latter accepted 
these risks, calculating rightly that Lee had suf- 
fered too severely to venture on any bold and reck- 
less movements, and that his superiors would in- 
sist on his making the protection of Richmond his 
paramount object. 

Grant began his movement on June 7th by send- 
ing Sheridan and his cavalry over into the valley 
of Mrginia to find Hunter, who had been march- 
ing up the valley, and on the way thoroughly to 
destroy the Virginia Central Railroad, over which 
supplies for Lee's army had been brought from 
those fruitful regions. He bore instructions to 
Hunter to return with him, but the latter Avas first 
to capture and destroy Lynchburg and the James 
River Canal if possible. Hunter was also advised 
by way of Washington and the North that Sheridan 
was advancing to meet him. But before Sheridan 
set out — on the 7th — there came a dispatch from 
Hunter reporting a victory at Staunton and the 
death of the Confederate commander. This same 
day Grant, who had established a new base of sup- 
plies at City Point, on the James, began transferring 
thither by steamers all the re-enforcements that ar- 
rived at White House, together with the iron from 
the York Railroad, to be used in laying new roads. 

On the nth Grant informed Butler that the 



26o GENERAL GRANT. 

movement to transfer the army to the James would 
begin after dark on the night of the 12th, that the 
Eighteenth Corps (Smith's), numbering some fif- 
teen thousand men, would be sent to him by water 
down the Chickahominy, embarking at Cole's Land- 
ing on the morning of the 13th; that the remainder 
of the army would cross the Chickahominy at Long 
Bridge and at Jones's, and endeavor to reach the 
James at the most practicable crossing below City 
Point. Smith, he calculated, would reach Butler 
as quickly as Lee could by way of Richmond, and 
the remainder of the army would be but a day be- 
hind, unless detained by Lee's whole command, in 
which case Butler would be safe from attack from 
that quarter. Butler was to commence at once the 
collection of boats and other means for crossing 
the army on its arrival, and if a place could be found 
for a pontoon bridge, to have it laid. If, on the ar- 
rival of the Eighteenth Corps, he felt strong enough 
to seize and hold Petersburg, he was authorized 
to attempt its reduction, otherwise not. In a post- 
script, however, Grant changed the place of dis- 
embarkation of the Eighteenth Corps to White 
House, as it would then have to march a shorter 
distance, and would avoid the uncertainties of navi- 
gation on the Chickahominy. 

Such in brief was Grant's plan. As to details, 
the Fifth Corps was to seize Long Bridge and move 
out on the Long Bridge Road to its junction with 
the Quaker Road, unless intercepted by the enemy. 
Of the other three corps, one was to cross at Long 
Bridge, the other two at Jones's Bridge. A pon- 
toon bridge was thrown over the Chickahominy at 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 261 

Long Bridge, over which, on the night and morn- 
ing of the 13th, the cavalry and Warren's corps 
crossed without opposition, and then pushed out 
on the roads leading toward Richmond to watch 
and guard against an attack from the enemy while 
the army passed. Hancock followed, and by the 
evening of the 13th reached Charles City Court- 
house, near the James River, some ten miles east 
of City Point. The same night Burnside's and 
Wright's corps crossed the Chickahominy at Jones's 
Bridge, and began their march to the James, War- 
ren and the cavalry still protecting their right flank. 
Hancock, on reaching the river, found materials 
for a pontoon bridge at hand, which his engineers 
speedily placed across the river. Boats had also 
been provided. By making use of both, the major 
part of the army was transferred to the south bank 
of the James by the evening of the 15th. No re- 
sistance to his march had been made by Lee — in 
fact, that general had use of all his available force 
to defend Richmond and protect his lines of com- 
munication in the valley from the bold raiders of 
Sheridan and the victorious troops of Generals 
Hunter, Averill, and Crook. 

The Army of the Potomac when it crossed the 
James numbered about one hundred and fifteen 
thousand men. It had received during the interim 
nearly forty thousand men as re-enforcements; it 
had lost in the battles of the Wilderness and at Cold 
Harbor 6,586 killed, 26,047 wounded, and 6,626 
missing — an aggregate of 39,259 men. Authentic 
data concerning the Army of Northern Virginia is 
lacking, but their losses, as well as the number 



262 GENERAL GRANT. 

of re-enforcements, are much less than those of 
General Meade's army. 

Butler had been ordered as soon as Smith with 
the Eighteenth Corps reached City Point to re-en- 
force him and send him against Petersburg, in the 
hope of taking that stronghold by surprise. It was 
known that there were but about twenty-five hun- 
dred regular troops in its defenses. There was a re- 
serve force of citizens and employees that could be 
drawn on in an emergency, but they could not be 
rallied in case of a sudden assault. Smith's orders 
were to get close up to the outer defenses under 
cover of night and assault as soon as possible after 
daybreak; but, unfortunately, he encountered the 
enemy intrenched on the road from City Point to 
Petersburg. He repulsed them, but was so delayed 
that it was long after sunrise before he reached 
Petersburg, and then, instead of attacking at once, 
he spent several hours reconnoitering. This was 
on June 15th. The night before Hancock had re- 
ceived orders to cross his corps over the James and 
march to a certain point on the road to Petersburg, 
and there await advices from Smith. He crossed 
during the night, but his rations, which had been 
ordered down from Bermuda Hundred, did not 
reach him, and, after waiting until half-past ten, he 
moved on without them, receiving a dispatch from 
Smith while 01 route begging him to come to his 
support. The latter had assaulted with his colored 
troops about seven o'clock, and carried five of the 
thirteen redans which comprised the enemy's strong 
line of defenses. 

Hancock came up soon after and offered to take 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 263 

any part in which he could be of service. Smith 
asked him to reheve his men in the trenches. Next 
morning, by order of his superiors, Hancock as- 
sumed command, and carried another redan; but, 
his old wound received at Gettysburg breaking out 
afresh, he was obliged to retire temporarily, and 
Meade took command of the field in person. The 
assaults continued all that day and the next, the 
losses on both sides being heavy. On the night 
of the 17th Beauregard, who commanded at Peters- 
burg, fell back to a second line of defenses which he 
had constructed, and the Federals occupied his old 
line. The Army of the Potomac then began the 
long siege of Petersburg, w^hile the Army of the 
James was occupied in garrisoning Bermuda Hun- 
dred and the Federal posts north of the James. 

A pause in the operations of the armies about 
Richmond now ensued. Grant, however, found 
hand and brain fully occupied with afifairs in his 
widely extended field, some of which were not in 
a satisfactory condition — a result caused partly by 
the situation, but chiefly by the interference of Hal- 
leck and Stanton at Washington. Sheridan, who, 
as we have seen, left Cold Harbor, June 7th, to tear 
up the Virginia Central Railroad and re-enforce 
Hunter in the valley, destroyed the road for some 
distance east and west of Trevilian Station, and 
there learning that Hunter w^as at Lynchburg, re- 
turned to City Point, dismantled it, and with a large 
wagon train rejoined the main body on the James. 
Hunter invested Lynchburg on the sixteenth, and 
would have taken it by assault without doubt had 
not his ammunition given out. Early's corps, how- 
18 



264 GENERAL GRANT. 

ever, soon re-enforced the garrison, having been de- 
tailed by Lee for that purpose, and Hunter was 
forced to retreat, not by the valley as he came, where 
he might meet an enemy whom he had no cartridges 
to fight, but by way of the Kanawha and Ohio 
Rivers, and thence by the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad to Harper's Ferry. 

This left the valley open to Early, and exposed 
Washington to his attack. He was quick to dis- 
cover this, and at once moved on the Federal capi- 
tal. General Lewis Wallace then commanded the 
department in which Washington and the valley 
lay, with headquarters at Baltimore. Rickett's 
division of the Sixth Corps had been detached by 
Grant from his front and sent to Baltimore to check- 
mate a possible move of this character, and with 
this corps and a few hastily collected reserves and 
raw levies Wallace made a gallant stand at the 
Monocacy, delaying Early's advance an entire day. 
This gave the remainder of the Sixth Corps — which 
had been ordered to Washington at once by Grant 
on hearing of Early's raid — time to reach the city 
before the latter. The Nineteenth Corps also ar- 
rived from Fort Monroe about the same time imder 
similar orders; and Early, finding a fortified camp 
instead of a defenseless city, retreated without mak- 
ing an attack, but without being pursued by the 
Union defenders. 

Early retreated as far as Strasburg before dis- 
covering that he was not closely pursued, then 
turned upon Winchester, drove out Crook, who was 
stationed there with a small force, swept down the 
valley to the Potomac, and detached McCausland 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND, 265 

to ravage the garden lands of Pennsylvania about 
Chambersburg, and burn that city — all of which he 
accomplished, but, on retiring toward Cumberland, 
he was met by General Kelley and driven in dis- 
order back into Virginia. Grant now decided to 
force the enemy out of the valley, and to keep him 
out. For this important work he selected Sheridan. 
He had previously asked to have him assigned to 
this duty, but Stanton objected on the ground that 
he was too young. On sending forward re-enforce- 
ments to Washington on August ist, Grant wrote 
Halleck that, unless Hunter took the field in per- 
son, he wished Sheridan placed in command of all 
the troops in the valley, with instructions to put 
himself south of the enemy and follow him to the 
death. " Wherever the enemy goes," said he, " let 
our troops go also." But if Hunter personally com- 
manded, he directed that Sheridan be given com- 
mand of the Sixth Corps and the cavalry. 

This dispatch came under the President's no- 
tice, and he telegraphed Grant that his instructions 
were exactly right, but would never be carried out 
nor attempted to be carried out unless he watched 
the field every day and hour and forced it. Grant 
replied that he would leave City Point in two hours 
for Washington, but, in point of fact, passed by the 
city without stopping, hurrying on to the Monocacy, 
where he found Hunter's army encamped guarding 
the cars and locomotives of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, which had been collected there. When 
asked as to the enemy's position, Hunter replied 
that he did not know, that he had been so confused 
by contradictory orders from Washington, moving 



266 GENERAL GRANT. 

him first to the left and then to the right, that he 
had lost all trace of the enemy. " Well," said 
Grant, " I will find him," and he immediately or- 
dered steam up and cars provided, and embarked 
the troops for Halltown, in the Shenandoah Valley, 
some four miles south of Harper's Ferry, feeling 
confident that Early considered possession of the 
valley so important that if it were threatened he 
would quickly concentrate in front of the attack- 
ing force, no matter what his position. 

On August 5th Grant wrote detailed instruc- 
tions for Hunter's guidance — to concentrate with- 
out delay every available man in the vicinity of 
Harper's Ferry, and if it appeared that the enemy 
had moved north in force to follow him and give 
battle; if with a small force, to send a detachment 
under a competent commander after him, and to 
push southward with his main force up the valley, 
utterly destroying all provisions, forage, and stock 
not wanted for his own command, since so long as 
an army could subsist on the country a rccvtrrence 
of these periodic raids might be expected. " The 
object is to drive the enemy south," he concluded, 
" and to do this you want to keep him always in 
sight. Be guided in your course by the course he 
takes." Grant proposed to Hunter to establish his 
headfjuarters at any point in his department most 
convenient — Baltimore, Cumberland, or elsewhere 
— and to put Sheridan in command in the field. 
Hunter replied that he seemed to have lost the con- 
fidence of the authorities at Washington, and 
thought it better for him to resign. He did not 
wish in any way to embarrass the cause. Grant 







Facsimile of cipher dispatch to General Halleck. 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 267 

accepted his resignation, and at once appointed 
Sheridan to the command of the department. The 
latter was then in Washington with the re-enforce- 
ments, and by order of Grant came on at once to 
the Monocacy by special train. There the two con- 
ferred, Sheridan receiving full verbal instructions 
as well as those on paper designed for Hunter, and 
then hurried on to Harper's Ferry, while Grant 
returned to City Point. 

Sheridan had thirty thousand men, eight thou- 
sand of them cavalry. Early about the same num- 
ber. All through August and the early days of 
September the two armies faced each other, Early 
on the west bank of Opequan Creek, covering Win- 
chester, Sheridan in front of Berryville, the cavalry 
meeting in frequent skirmishes. Sheridan ordered 
no general advance, however, as a possible defeat 
would expose the North to invasion. To prevent 
Lee from re-enforcing Early, Grant, on the night of 
the 13th and 14th of August, ordered Hancock to 
threaten Richmond from the north side of the 
James, a feint which had the desired efifect. Sher- 
man also at this time wrote for re-enforcements, 
and asked that care be taken that no troops from 
Richmond be sent against him. He was about in- 
vesting Atlanta. Grant sent him some of the raw 
levies from the Northwest, and at the same time 
pointed out to him that his real danger lay in Kirby 
Smith, commanding the Trans-Mississippi Depart- 
ment, who might elude Steele, at any time cross the 
Mississippi, and re-enforce Johnston. As a check- 
mate. Grant directed that an expedition against Mo- 
bile should be set on foot from New Orleans, the 



268 GENERAL GRANT. 

moment such a movement was attempted, and so 
informed General Sherman. An organized plan 
to resist the draft in the North was also reported 
at this time. 

While Lee was concentrated on the north side 
of the James to resist any advance from that quar- 
ter, Warren with the Fifth Corps was sent against 
the Weldon Railroad on the south, over which 
General Lee's supplies were transported. General 
Warren captured this important feeder and fortified 
his position, and, although Lee made desperate ef- 
forts to recapture it, he was repulsed with heavy 
loss. Nor did he again secure control of this artery. 
On the 1 2th Grant learned that Lee had sent heavy 
re-enforcements to Early, who had been pushed 
back as far as Strasburg by Sheridan, and at once 
forwarded the news by telegraph and courier to the 
latter. Grant himself followed on the 15th, intend- 
ing to see for himself how matters stood in the val- 
ley, and to order Sheridan to assume the offensive. 
He knew that if he sent such an order it would be 
intercepted in Washington, both Halleck and Stan- 
ton being too anxious for the safety of the capital 
to hazard a battle except with overwhelming odds. 

Grant met Sheridan by appointment at Charles- 
town, and there the young commander so dem- 
onstrated his ability to defeat Early, and was so 
confident of success, that he was left to carry on the 
campaign according to his own plans. Grant leav- 
ing him on Friday with the understanding that he 
should attack on the following Monday. Sheri- 
dan did attack on that day at the crossing of Ope- 
quan Creek, and gained an overwhelming victory — 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 269 

one not the least valuable from its moral effect upon 
the country. Grant ordered his artillerists to fire 
a hundred guns at the enemy in honor of it, and di- 
rected that similar salutes should be fired by the 
other commanders. Sheridan pursued and laid 
waste the upper valley, then retired, not believing 
that Lee would send another invading force thither, 
as it would have to transport its supplies in wagons. 

But in this case the unexpected happened. So 
necessary to the Confederacy was the fruitful valley 
deemed that re-enforcements w'ere quickly sent to 
Early, and he was instructed to make one supreme 
effort to regain control of it. Sheridan retreated, 
Early following. On the 15th of October Sheridan, 
having been summoned to Washington, left his 
army in command of Wright, and set out for the 
capital. The next morning, at Front Royal, he re- 
ceived a dispatch from Wright saying that a letter 
from Longstreet to Early had been intercepted or- 
dering the latter to be ready to move as soon as he 
(Longstreet) should effect a junction with him. 
This was the first intimation of re-enforcements that 
the Union generals had received. Sheridan at once 
ordered his cavalry up to join Wright, and con- 
tinued on to Washington, transacted his business 
there, and reached Winchester on his return on the 
night of the i8th. 

The next morning Sheridan set out to rejoin 
his command, but was met just outside the town 
by the news that the night before Early had suc- 
ceeded in placing his troops in the rear of the Fed- 
eral left flank, which thereupon had broken and 
fled down the valley, losing a thousand prisoners 



270 



GENERAL GRANT. 



and eighteen guns; that the right, under General 
Getty, had maintained a firm front, and had retired 
in good order to Middletown, where it then lay; 
also, that Wright had ordered a retreat of the whole 
army to Winchester. Even while reading the dis- 
patch the panic-stricken fugitives began straggling 
by. Sheridan at once ordered the cavalry to deploy 
across the valley, thus checking their flight, then 
started at full gallop toward the battlefield. " Boys," 
cried he to the retreating troops, swinging his hat, 
" if I'd been here this shouldn't have happened. 
Face about! We're going back! We're going to 
have those guns! We're going to lick them out of 
their boots! " 

Then was seen the finest example of the po- 
tency of one man's appearance on the battlefield 
in American military history. It may be doubted 
if the presence of any other American command- 
er could have so suddenly changed defeat into 
victory as Sheridan's arrival on the field. The shat- 
tered ranks faced about and reformed. To their 
surprise no enemy appeared; they had been pur- 
sued by shadows. Confidence came back, and with 
it a noble emulation to retrieve the day. Quick- 
ly an army ready for battle was marching toward 
thq enemy. Meantime Sheridan had reached the 
front and found Getty and Custer boldly con- 
fronting the Confederates and protecting the rear. 
Sheridan ordered the rallied troops to make a stand, 
intrenched, and awaited an attack, which was quick- 
ly made. Early assaulted with vigor, but was re- 
pulsed with such loss that he withdrew and began 
himself to intrench, with a view to holding the posi- 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 



271 



tion gained, not having the slightest suspicion that 
the army which he had routed that morning would 
itself take the initiative. But he did not know that 
Sheridan had returned to the field. About mid- 
afternoon Sheridan sent his cavalry to the enemy's 
rear by both flanks, and then, attacking in front 
and rear, gained a complete victory, retaking the 
guns lost in the morning, and capturing twenty-four 
pieces of artillery in addition. This signal victory 
prevented any further attempt by Lee to invade the 
North by way of the valley, and Sheridan's army 
was soon largely broken up, the Sixth Corps being 
returned to the Army of the Potomac, one division 
to the Army of the James, the other to garrison 
Savannah, which about this time was captured by 
Sherman after his march from Atlanta. 

On the morning of July 30th a mine was ex- 
ploded under the enemy's defenses before Peters- 
burg, and which formed a crater some twenty feet 
deep and nearly a hundred in length. Simultane- 
ously an assault was made through the breach ; but 
this proved a conspicuous failure, owing to the in- 
efficiency of the division commanders, to whom it 
had been intrusted. Ledlie's division went into the 
crater, and might have captured the works had it 
possessed a leader, but its commander housed him- 
self at a safe place in the rear, and the division, hav- 
ing no orders to advance farther, remained in the 
crater until the enemy, recovering from his panic, 
reappeared in the breastworks and took nearly all 
prisoners who had not been killed. 

In a letter written to Admiral Ammen a few 
days after this unfortunate fiasco, Grant says: " Sev- 



2/2 



GENERAL GRANT. 



eral times we have had decisive victories within our 
grasp, but let them, through accident or fault, slip 
through our hands. Our movement from Cold 
Harbor to the south side of the James was made 
with such celerity that before the enemy got a single 
regiment across the river our forces had carried the 
fortifications east of Petersburg. There was noth- 
ing, not even a military force, to prevent our walk- 
ing in and taking possession. The officer charged 
with this work, for some unaccountable reason, 
stopped at the works he had captured, and gave 
the enemy time to get in a garrison and intrench it. 
On the 30th of July, again, by a feint north of the 
James, we drew most of the enemy on that side of 
the river, and whilst he was there (with my troops 
quietly withdrawing during the night) a mine, ju- 
diciously prepared, was exploded, burying a battery 
and some three hundred of the enemy, and making 
a breach in his works into which our men marched 
without opposition. The enemy was completely 
surprised, and commenced running in all directions. 
There was nothing to prevent our men from march- 
ing directly to the high ground in front of them, 
to which they had been directed to go. Once there, 
all the enemy's fortifications would have been taken 
in reverse, and no stand could have been made. It 
is clear that without a loss of five hundred men we 
could have had Petersburg, with all its artillery and 
many of its garrison. Put our troops stopped in the 
crater made by the explosion. The enemy was 
given time to rally and rcoccupy his line. Then 
we found, true enough, that we had the wolf by the 
ears. He was hard to hold and more dangerous to 



Cui^^l^-^.^ ^^^^^^L^-z-tA.- ^'-l/'^-c^z-y ^^J'C--^?^^ /; ^--t!^ tfL-i-^.-^-^ 

Facsimile of cipher dispatch to General Sherman. 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 2*7^ 

let go. This was so outrageous that I shall have 
a court of inquiry to sift the matter." 

It is not within the province of this work to 
detail minutely operations of the army around 
Richmond up to the fall of the capital in the spring 
of 1865. Sherman, having divided the Confederacy 
by his march from Atlanta to Savannah, next pro- 
ceeded to quarter it by moving his army from Sa- 
vannah to Richmond. Meade was to hold Lee as in 
a vise at Petersburg and Richmond; Thomas in 
East Tennessee and Hancock in the Shenandoah 
Valley with a large army of reserves were to co- 
operate in an attack from the west, thus hemming 
Lee in on every side, and rendering his surrender 
inevitable. This was the plan of campaign for the 
spring of 1865. How admirably it was carried out 
is a matter of history. By a series of skillful ma- 
noeuvers and fierce assaults, Petersburg was taken 
on the morning of April 3d, with twelve thousand 
prisoners and fifty pieces of artillery, the remainder 
of the defenders succeeding in making their escape. 

Grant foresaw that Richmond must now be 
evacuated and at once, Lee's right at Petersburg 
being entirely turned and his Southern communica- 
tions threatened; he also foresaw that he would at- 
tempt to escape by the Richmond and Danville 
Railroad, the only railway open to him. All his 
efforts, therefore, were bent to getting possession 
of that railroad before Lee should begin his retro- 
grade movement. At the point where the Rich- 
mond and Danville crossed the Appomattox River, 
southwest of Richmond, the latter stream and the 
James are but a few miles apart, and, by placing his 



274 GENERAL GRANT. 

forces there and marching a few miles north and 
east, Grant could hem Lee in if in Richmond be- 
tween the two rivers, and capture not only the 
capital, but his army. The latter, however, had no 
intention of remaining in Richmond until his ad- 
versary's lines enfolded him like a rat. 

On Sunday, April 2d, when most of the de- 
fenses of Petersburg had been taken, and it be- 
came evident that it must fall, Lee advised the Con- 
federate President that Richmond must be evacu- 
ated; whereupon the government hastily evacu- 
ated the capital, not staying even to remove the 
archives. The same night Lee ordered all his troops 
to concentrate at Amelia Courthouse, on the Dan- 
ville Railroad, south of the Appomattox, intending 
to effect a junction with Johnston and fall upon 
Sherman, who was still at Goldsboro, N. C. On 
learning this, Grant ordered Sheridan to place his 
cavalry on the south side of the Appomattox, I'ia 
the Danville Railroad, as quickly as possible, and 
at the same time directed Meade to move to the 
same point the following morning. The Army of 
the James marched by the wagon road beside the 
Southside Railway, south of the Appomattox, as 
far as I'urke's Station, where it intersects the Rich- 
mond and Danville Railway and also crosses the 
Appomattox River. 

The morning after the capture of Petersburg 
Grant invited President Lincoln — who had been for 
some days at City Point — to come to Petersburg 
and confer with him. The President did so. The 
two great men met on the piazza of a deserted 
house, attended only by the general's staff and a 




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SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 275 

small escort of cavalry, and conversed long and ear- 
nestly as to the conduct of the campaign, Grant 
explaining very clearly and at length his plans and 
objects. The President listened attentively, and as- 
sented to all that was said. When the interview 
closed, Lincoln mounted the general's superb blood 
bay war horse Cincinnati, and galloped back to 
City Point, while Grant and his stafT set out to 
rejoin the army, which during the interim had 
been rapidly marching toward its objective. While 
on the road and shortly after leaving the President, 
Grant received a dispatch from General Godfrey 
Weitzel advising him that he had entered Rich- 
mond with his troops at qviarter past eight o'clock 
that morning — the 3d — and had found the city on 
fire in several places, and much confusion and dis- 
tress among the people. 

Without turning aside to enter the conquered 
capital. Grant pressed on after his advancing army, 
the rear of which he soon overtook at Sutherland 
Station, nine miles out, it having halted to allow the 
roads in front, which were blocked by the wagon 
trains of the advance corps, to be cleared. General 
Wright, commanding the corps, had decided to 
bivouac there for the night, get up some rations 
for his men — who had had nothing to eat since set- 
ting out soon after daybreak — and then march very 
early next morning, by which time he hoped the 
roads in front would be cleared. Humphreys, who 
had the advance, was also out of rations, and the 
men went supperless to bivouac. Nor could he ob- 
tain any during the night. But so eager were the 
soldiers to surround and capture the army with 



276 GENERAL GRANT. 

which they had been contending for four years that 
they asked to be led against the enemy though 
without rations. 

At three o'clock, therefore, next morning the 
march was resumed. At this time — the morning 
of the 4th — Grant learned that Lee had ordered 
rations for his army from Danville to meet him at 
Farmville, which is nearly west of Amelia Court- 
house, on another line of road. This proved to 
Grant's mind that he had become alarmed by his 
prompt movements south of the Appomattox, and, 
leaving the Danville road, would attempt to escape 
by a route farther west. Grant at once ordered 
Sheridan to seize the latter road before the supplies 
could be passed over it, to which the latter replied 
that he had already sent Crook to seize it between 
Burkesville and Jetersville, then march north to 
the latter place, and that he must be in possession 
by that time. Grant at once ordered a forced march 
of the Army of the Potomac to Jetersville, which 
arrived there on the 5th. Ord also reached Burkes- 
ville, some ten miles below on the Danville Road, 
the same evening. 

Grant now wrote to Sherman that Lee was at- 
tempting to escape by way of Danville with a rem- 
nant of his force — not exceeding twenty-five thou- 
sand men — much demoralized, that he would prob- 
ably make a stand at Danville, and ordered the lat- 
ter to push on to Greensboro, or even nearer Dan- 
ville, if he thought proper, and see if they could not 
finish both Lee's and Johnston's armies at a blow. 
" Rebel armies are now the only strategic points to 
aim at," the latter concluded. Next morning — the 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 277 

6th — it was found that Lee was moving west of 
Jetersville toward Farmville, and the army was or- 
dered in rapid pursuit. Sheridan and his cavalry, 
followed by his Sixth Corps, moved to strike Lee's 
flank, while the Second and Fifth Corps pursued 
in his rear, pressing him so closely that he aban- 
doned several hundred wagons and some artillery. 
Ord also advanced from Burkesville along the rail- 
road toward Farmville, first sending in advance a 
scouting party of six hundred men to destroy the 
bridges over which Lee must pass. The order was 
admirably executed, but the detachment returning 
came suddenly upon the head of Lee's column near 
Farmville. Nothing daunted, the six hundred 
charged it repeatedly until its commander. Colonel 
Read, and nearly every commissioned officer was 
killed or wounded, and the survivors overpowered. 
The enemy, thinking a larger force behind, stopped 
to intrench — a delay that enabled Ord to come up 
and largely aided in Lee's subsequent capture. 

The same afternoon Sheridan had a sharp en- 
gagement with the enemy on Sailor's Creek, a small 
affluent of the Appomattox flowing in from the 
south between Jetersville and Farmville, and de- 
tained him until the Sixth Corps could be brought 
forward, when a general engagement followed, re- 
sulting in a loss to the enemy of sixteen pieces of 
artillery and between six and seven thousand pris- 
oners. Next morning the pursuit was continued 
with vigor, the cavalry and the Fifth Corps moving 
toward Prince Edwards Courthouse, due south of 
Farmville, the Sixth Corps, Ord's command, and 
a division of cavalry directly on Farmville, and the 



278 GENERAL GRANT. 

Second Corps to secure the High Bridge over the 
Appomattox. Sheridan quickly learned that Lee 
had crossed to the north side of the river, but so 
closely was he pursued that the Second Corps se- 
cured the High Bridge before the enemy could burn 
it, and by it gained the north side, while the Sixth 
Corps crossed at Farmville, farther west. 

Lee was now hemmed in, his foes occupying all 
the roads leading south by which he might hope 
to escape. Desirous of avoiding further sacrifice of 
brave men. Grant on the 7th addressed a letter 
to him referring to the hopelessness of his cause, 
and asking the surrender of his army in order to 
stop further effusion of blood. Lee replied the 
same day, not admitting his cause to be desperate, 
but asking what terms he would be allowed on 
condition of surrender. Grant replied on the 8th, 
naming his terms — viz., " men and officers to be dis- 
qualified for taking up arms against the United 
States until properly exchanged." Without wait- 
ing for a reply, the pursuit was renewed vigorously, 
Meade marching north of the Appomattox and 
Sheridan south of it, aiming for Appomattox Sta- 
tion, on the Southside Railroad, southwest of Farm- 
ville. He reached this station late in the evening, 
drove back the guard, and captured a hospital train, 
twenty-five guns, and four train loads of supplies 
for Lee's army. This removed Lee's last resource. 

Grant, who had marched with Meade's column 
that day, received a note from Lee at midnight, 
saying that he could not meet him with a view to 
surrendering the Army of Nortliern A'irginia, but 
that, as far as his proposition atTected the forces 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 279 

under his command, and would tend to the restora- 
tion of peace, he would be pleased to meet him on 
the old stage road to Richmond at 10 a. m. on the 
9th, between the picket lines of the two armies. 
Grant replied that he had no authority to treat of 
peace, and pointed out that the South could at any 
time restore peace by simply laying down her arms, 
and at once set out to join the column at Appo- 
mattox Station. On this morning of the 9th the 
enemy made a last desperate effort to break through 
the lines of the cavalry at Appomattox, but Ord's 
command and the Fifth Corps reached the station 
at the critical moment, and the attempt failed. 

A white flag was then sent to the Union line, 
with a message requesting a suspension of hostili- 
ties preceding negotiations for a surrender. Grant 
about the same time, while on his way to Appo- 
mattox, received a note from Lee asking for an 
interview to ascertain definitely what terms could 
be obtained for the surrender of his army. This 
interview was granted, and was held at Appomattox 
in the house of Wilmer McLean, Colonel Charles 
Marshall, of Lee's staff, and Grant's staff being the 
only other persons present. The two generals shook 
hands on meeting; neither spoke of the war, but 
talked of the old army life in Mexico, where, as we 
have seen, Lee had served as chief of staff to Gen- 
eral Scott and head of the engineer corps, and Grant 
as lieutenant and quartermaster. Each remem- 
bered the other, and conversed as pleasantly as 
though they had not recently been pitted against 
one another in the most stupendous battles of mod- 
ern times. Lee, clad in a new uniform, with a 
19 



28o GENERAL GRANT. 

superb sword, introduced at length the subject of 
the surrender. Grant, wearing a soldier's blouse, 
without a sword, and with only his shoulder straps 
to indicate his rank, sat down and wrote out the 
terms of surrender — substantially the same as those 
given in his letter of the 8th, but allowing the of- 
ficers to retain their side arms, horses, and bag- 
gage. General Lee, on reading it, remarked that 
in his army many of the artillerists and cavalrymen 
owned their own horses, and asked if the provision 
concerning the olBcers' horses would apply to 
them. " No," said Grant, " it will not as it is writ- 
ten; but, as I think this will be the last battle of the 
war, and as I suppose most of the men in the ranks 
are small farmers, who without these horses would 
find it difficult to put in their crops, the country 
having been swept of everything movable, and as 
the United States does not want them, I will in- 
struct the officers who are to receive the paroles of 
your troops to let every man who claims to own a 
horse or mule take the animal to his home." 

Lee remarked that this would have a happy ef- 
fect, and then wrote out his formal letter of accept- 
ance.* As he was about taking leave, he remarked 



•Headquarters Armies of the U. S., 5 p. m., April -j^ 1865. 
General R. E. Lee, Cominandiug Confederate States Armies : 

The result of last week must convince you of the hopelessness 
of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia 
in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard as my duty to shift 
from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood, by 
asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate 
Southern Army, known as the Army of Northern Virginia. 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General. 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 281 

that his men had subsisted for some days on parched 
corn only, and that he would have to ask for rations 

The above was written and sent out from Farmville. Gen. 
Seth Williams, A. A. G., was the messenger accompanied by his 
orderly. The flag of truce was fired upon. The orderly deserted, 
but Williams went through, narrowly escaping being shot. No 
apology was made for this violation of the flag, Williams, I be- 
lieve, making no formal complaint on account of its being near 
dark, and the enemy not having distinguished the flag. 

April 7, i86s. 
General : I have received your note of this day. Though 
not entirely of the opinion you express of the hopelessness of fur- 
ther resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I 
reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and 
therefore before considering your proposition ask the terms you 
will offer on condition of the surrender. R. E. Lee, General. 
Lieutenant General U. S. Grant, 

Commanding Armies of the U. S. 

Aprils, 1865. 

General R. E. Lee, Commanding Confederate States Armies: 

Your note of last evening in reply to mine of the same date 
asking the conditions on which I will accept the surrender cf the 
Army of Northern Virginia is just received. In reply I would say 
that peace being my first desire there is but one condition that I 
insist upon, viz. ^ That the men surrendered shall be disqualified 
for taking up arms again against the Government of the United 
States until properly exchanged. I will meet you or designate 
officers to meet any officers you may name for the purpose at any 
point agreeable to you for the purpose of arranging definitely the 
terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia 
will be received. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General. 

The above was written at Farmville and sent to Lee wherever 
he could be found. It was written early in the morning at the 
Farmville Hotel (where we had stayed) before resuming our 
march for the day. 

April 8, 1865. 

General : I received at a late hour your note of to-day in 
answer to mine of yesterday. I did not intend to propose the 



282 GENERAL GRANT. 

and forage. "Certainly," replied Grant; "for how 
many men do you require them? " " About twenty- 



surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms 
of your proposition. To be frank, I do not think the emergency 
has arisen to call for the surrender. But as the restoration of 
peace should be the sole object of all, I desire to know whether 
your proposals would tend to that end. I can not therefore meet 
you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia ; 
but so far as your proposition may affect the Confederate States 
forces under my command and tend to the restoration of peace, I 
should be pleased to meet you at lo A. M. to-morrow on the old 
stage road to Richmond between the picket lines of the two 
armies. R. E. Lee, Genl. C. S. A, 

Lieut. Gen. U. S. Grant, Comdg. Armies of the U. S. 

Received late at night at Meade's headquarters in rear of 
Lee's army, and I should judge about six or eight miles east from 
Appomattox Courthouse, i. e., in a direct line, or by the nearest 
road. Grant and Rawlins both remarked that Lee was very 
obstinate, and that upon his shoulders must rest the consequences 
of continued resistance. 

April g, 1865. 

General K. E. Lee: 

General — Your note of yesterday is received. As I have no 
authority to treat on the subject of peace, the ipeeting proposed 
for 10 A. M. to-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, 
general, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and 
the whole North entertain the same feeling. The terms upon 
which peace can be had are well understood. By the South lay- 
ing down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event, 
save thousands of human lives and hundred of millions of prop- 
erty not yet destroyed. Sincerely hoping that all our difficulties 
may be settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe my- 
self, etc. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General. 

The above was written after midnight where the previous note 
was received, and sent with no expectation that General Lee would 
again answer. 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 283 

five thousand," Lee replied; whereupon Grant au- 
thorized him to send his own commissary and quar- 

A/>ril 9, 1865. 

General : I received your note of this morning on the picket 
line whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely 
what terms were embraced in your proposition of yesterday with 
reference to the surrender of this army. I now request an inter- 
view in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yes- 
terday for that purpose. R. E. Lee, General. 

Lieutenant General U. S. Grant, Commanding U. S. Armies. 

Received on the road in a pine grove. The staff cheered 
when the general told us the contents of the note. I should 
judge we were seven or eight miles from Appomattox Courthouse. 

April 9, 1865. 
General R. E. Lee, Commanding Co7ifederate States Armies : 

Your note of this date is but this moment (11.50 A. M.) re- 
ceived — in consequence of my having passed from the Richmond 
and Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I 
am at this writing about four miles west of Walker's Church, 
and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting 
you. Notice, sent to me on this road where you wish the inter- 
view to take place, will meet me. 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General. 

Sent to General Lee by Col. O. E. Babcock,who was instructed 
to fine Lee and arrange for the interview. The general and 
staff followed as expeditiously as possible, but unfortunately were 
misled as to Sheridan's headquarters and narrowly escaped being 
captured, striking about a mile east of the Courthouse. We pro- 
ceeded across country and found Sheridan about half a mile west 
of the Courthouse After several minutes spent in conversation. 
Grant and Sheridan with their staffs proceeded to McLean's house, 
where Lee was waiting. 

Appomattox C. H., ViRcrNiA, April q, 1865. 
General R. E. Lee, Commanding Confederate States Armies : 

General — In accordance with the substance of my letter to 
you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the 



284 GENERAL GRANT. 

termaster to Appomattox Station and take from 
the captured trains there all the provisions needed. 

Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms — to wit : Rolls 
of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to 
be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained 
by such officer as you may designate. The officers to give their 
individual parole not to take arms against the United States until 
properly exchanged and each company or regimental commander 
to sign a like parole for the men of their command. The arms, 
artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked and turned 
over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will 
not embrace the side arms of the officers nor their private horses 
or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to 
return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States au- 
thority so long as they observe their parole and the laws in force 
where they may reside. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General. 

Written by General Grant in the manifold order book and 
copied by E. S. Parker. 

Hdqrs. Army Northern Virginia, -J/rZ/g, 1865. 

General : I have received your letter of this date containing 
the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as pro- 
posed by you. As they are substantially the same as those ex- 
pressed in your letter of the 8th inst., they are accepted. I will 
proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations 
into effect. R- E. Lee, General. 

Lieutenant General U. S. Grant. 

Lee had no paper on which to write his acceptance and Mar- 
shall asked me for paper. I could only give him note paper, all 
my other paper being officially headed, and on this Lee's .iccept- 
ance was written. General Lee said that our soldiers had burned 
his trains with his papers and baggage. When the generals met 
it must have been between half past two and three o'clock. They 
parted, I think, before three and met again about nine or ten the 
next morning, just east of the Courthouse. E. A. Pollard says 
about half past three Lee was seen riding back to his headquarters 
from the inter\'icw and all knew that the surrender was completed. 
The interview took place at tlie house of Wilmcr McLean. Lee 



Facsimile of ('.rant's terms to I.ee 




^/vx^ U/T^^^ ^J^T^^ ^^^-^^t-^^t^A^^^ -^^^ *2^-<0!<i^ 




and his army at Appomattox. 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 285 

General Lee's surrender practically ended the 
war of the rebellion. On April 26th Johnston sur- 
rendered to Sherman on the same terms as those 
accorded Lee, and soon after organized resistance 
to the Federal Government by the Confederacy 
ceased. Mobile fell on April nth. General Rich- 
ard Taylor surrendered all the Confederate forces 
east of the Mississippi to General Canby on May 
4th, and on the 26th the only remaining army of 
the Confederacy was surrendered to Canby by its 
commander, General Kirby Smith. The war of the 

was attended only by Colonel Marshall, one of his aids. General 
Lee's demeanor " was that of a thoroughly possessed gentleman 
who had a very disagreeable duty to perform, but was determined 
to get through it as well, and as soon, as he could." 

The foregoing memorandum was made at the time by Col. 
Ely S. Parker (i828-'95), a favorite member of Grant's staff. 
He was an Iroquois chief and had known the general in Galena 
before the war. The last order issued by General Lee was sent 
out after his surrender. It was dictated by General Grant to 
Colonel Parker, and was reissued by Lee as follows : 

Headquakters Akmy of Northern Virginia, .4/r// 10, 1865. 
The following order is published for the information of all 
concerned. 

Headquarters Armies of the United States, 

In the Fikld, April lo, 1865. 
Special Order No. — 

All officers and men of the Confederate service paroled at 

Appomattox Courthouse, who to reach their homes are compelled 

to pass through the lines of the Union armies, will be allowed to 

do so, and to pass free on all Government tran.sports and military 

railroads. 

By command Lieut.-General Grant. Ei.Y S. Parker, 

Lieut. Col. and Assistant Adjutant General. 

By command of General R. E. Lee. 

Charles S. Ve.N'ABLE, Assistant Adjutant General, 



286 GENERAL GRANT. 

rebellion was declared to be ended by President 
Johnson's proclamation of April 2, 1866, except 
as to Texas. 

Grant with his staff proceeded to Burkesville, 
to which point the Southside Railroad had been put 
in operation; there took the train and journeyed 
to Washington z'ia City Point, and thence on a dis- 
patch boat down the James and up the Potomac. 
In Washington he was joined by Mrs. Grant, and, 
after spending several days countermanding orders 
for supplies and re-enforcements, and communicat- 
ing with his generals in distant departments, he 
left the city with his wife, intending to visit his 
children, who had been for some time at school in 
Burlington, N. J. It was the evening of April 14th. 
During the day he had received an invitation from 
President and Mrs. Lincoln to join their party at 
Ford's Theater that evening, but declined at the 
request of his wife. On reaching Philadelphia he 
was met by a request to return instantly to Wash- 
ington, as President Lincoln had been assassinated 
in his box at the theater. An attempt had also been 
made upon the life of Secretary Seward, and prob- 
ably upon that of Vice-President Johnson. Grant 
hastened back to Washington by a special train, 
only to find the city he had left jubilant with vic- 
tory plunged into the deepest woe, with flags at 
half mast, crape upon public buildings as well as 
private residences, and bells tolling for the passing 
from earth of a great soul. As it was in Washing- 
ton, so it was throughout the country. What would 
have been the result had Grant accepted the Presi- 
dent's invitation and accompanied him to the 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 287 

theater that night is purely a matter of specula- 
tion. 

Having- closed his campaigns, Grant quietly re- 
turned to Washington without entering or even 
having seen the capital which his genius had cap- 
tured, and devoted himself to mustering out the 
armies and to the other multitudinous details of his 
position, and also to the preparation of an admirable 
report of the operations of all the armies from the 
time of his assuming command. Before closing his 
military career, the modest commander became the 
central figure of a pageant the most brilliant and 
significant in American military annals. General 
Sherman with his army arrived near Washington 
early in May, and before disbanding the troops it 
was decided to have them pass in a grand review 
bef jre the President and his Cabinet and the gen- 
eral in chief. 

The review took place on May 24th and 25th, 
tiie first day being devoted to the Army of the Po- 
tomac, the second to the Army of the West. The 
troops formed behind the Capitol, and marched 
along Pennsylvania Avenue, around the Treasury 
Building, and past the reviewing party, which took 
position on stands erected opposite the White 
House. Infantry, cavalry, artillery took part in 
the wonderful parade, and the ovation the veterans 
received from the multitudes along the entire line 
of march was but a just tribute to their patriotism, 
sufferings, and achievements. In the words of Sir 
Walter Scott, 

'Twere ten years of peaceful life, 
One glance at their array. 



288 GENERAL GRANT. 

General Grant wrote of this military display: 
" The sight was varied and grand. Nearly all day, 
for two successive days, from the Capitol to the 
Treasury Building, could be seen a mass of orderly 
soldiers marching in columns of companies. The 
national flag was flying from almost every house 
and store; the windows were filled with spectators; 
the doorsteps and sidewalks were crowded with 
colored people and poor whites who did not suc- 
ceed in securing better cjuarters from which to ob- 
tain a view of the grand armies. The city was 
about as full of strangers who had come to see the 
sights as it usually is on inauguration day when 
a new President takes his seat." 

Meade led the Army of the Potomac and Sher- 
man the army whose drums had been heard in seven 
Southern States, yet the central figure in men's 
minds was no doubt the great soldier on the review- 
ing stand, whom both Sherman and Meade with 
their armies saluted as they passed before him. 
In answer to the author's inquiry, Grant said that 
the Washington review of the two armies had, as 
indicating the conclusion of the civil contest, af- 
forded him perhaps more pleasure than any event 
connected with the war. A few days later General 
Grant issued the following address to all the armies 
which were about to be disbanded. 

Soldiers of the Armies of the United States: 

By your patriotic devotion to your coimtry in 
the hour of danger and alarm, your magnificent 
fighting, bravery, and endurance, you have main- 
tained the supremacy of the Union and Constitu- 



SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 289 

tion, overthrown all armed opposition to the en- 
forcement of the laws, and of the proclamation for- 
ever abolishing- slavery — the cause and pretext of 
the rebellion — and opened the way to the rightful 
authorities to restore order and inaugurate peace 
on a permanent and enduring basis on every foot 
of American soil. Your marches, sieges, and bat- 
tles, in distance, duration, resolution, and brilliancy 
of results, dim the luster of the world's past military 
achievements, and will be the patriot's precedent 
in defense of liberty and right in all time to come. 
In obedience to your country's call you left your 
homes and families, and volunteered in its defense. 
Victory has crowned your valor, and secured the 
purpose of your patriotic hearts; and with the grati- 
tude of your countrymen, and the highest honors 
a great and free nation can accord, you will soon 
be permitted to return to your homes and families, 
conscious of having discharged the highest duty 
of American citizens. To achieve these glorious 
triumphs, and secure to yourselves, your fellow- 
countrymen, and posterity, the blessings of free in- 
stitutions, tens of thousands of your gallant com- 
rades have fallen, and sealed the priceless legacy with 
their lives. The graves of these a grateful nation 
bedews wnth tears, honors their memories, and will 
ever cherish and support their stricken families. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 

During the years 1865-66 General Grant made 
several tours of inspection and pleasure to the Cana- 
das, to the South, and to the West. At New York 
tens of thousands crowded to the City Hall to see 
and shake hands with the renowned soldier, and, 
when he accompanied the President in his Western 
tour to take part in the inauguration of the monu- 
ment to Stephen A. Douglas at Chicago, the thou- 
sands who were assembled at every railway station 
to welcome the distinguished party were always 
loudest in their cheers for Grant. At the Sanitary 
Fair, held in the latter city, the expectation of see- 
ing him had filled densely the immense building, 
and when tlie hurrahs which greeted Grant as he 
entered, leaning on the arm of General Hooker, had 
subsided, he stepped forward and said, " Ladies 
and gentlemen, as I never make a speech myself, 
I will ask Governor Yates to return tlic thanks I 
sliould fail to express." The Governor, later a 
member of the United States vSenate, then deliv- 
ered an eloquent address, closing with these words: 
" I am here to-day to say that the proudest reflec- 
290 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 



291 



tion that thrills the heart of this brave soldier and 
general is that we have gloriously triumphed. That 
our nation is preserved, that our Government has 
been maintained, and that we have our free institu- 
tions for us and our posterity forever." 

Among the many ovations which Grant re- 
ceived, perhaps there was none more grateful to 
him than that extended by the citizens of Galena, 
his old Illinois home. There were arches decorated 
with the long scroll of his victories, and over the 
street where he lived and the sidewalk which he 
had calumniated was the motto, " General, the side- 
walk is built." The fond thought which had prompt- 
ed such an expression of his ambition — to be mayor 
of Galena and repair the sidewalk — thus treasured 
up by his old friends and fellow-citizens, touched 
him very deeply. In the course of his journey in 
the West, General Grant stopped for a day at 
Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio, where he spent 
his boyhood. The people came from all quarters to 
see the illustrious soldier, and he was constrained 
to make the following speech — the longest with the 
single exception of his Washington speech that 
he was ever known to dehver: "Ladies and gen- 
tlemen of Brown County: You are all aware that 
I am not in the habit of making speeches. I 
am glad that I never learned to make speeches 
when I was young, and now that I am old I have 
no desire to begin. I had rather start out in any- 
thing else than in making a speech. And now, 
ladies and gentlemen, I can only say to you that 
it affords me very much pleasure to get back to 
Brown County, where my boyhood was spent." 



292 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Another visit that afiforded Grant undisguised 
satisfaction was that made to his Alma Mater in 
June, 1865. At this time occurred that touching 
interview between himself and General Winfield 
Scott, a feature of which was the gift of a copy of 
the latter's recently published Memoirs, with the 
inscription " From the oldest to the greatest gen- 
eral." Scott was not perhaps aware how closely he 
was treading in the path of Frederick the Great, 
who sent Washington a sword with the inscription, 
" From the oldest general in the world to the great- 
est." Like the Prussian king, he committed a lapsus 
pcniioe by writing himself the oldest living general. 
There were several general officers of greater 
age living when both presentations were made. 
Marshal Combermere, among others, whose desig- 
nation points to the highest rank in the British 
army, having been born in 1769, and who was con- 
sequently seventeen years the senior of Scott, was 
then living. Just a year later, and the remains of 
the old hero of nearly four score, who had been a 
prominent actor in almost all that is glorious in the 
military annals of our country from the commence- 
ment of the war of 181 2 to the beginning of the late 
rebellion, were laid in the grave at West Point in 
the presence of Grant and Farragut and a numerous 
assemblage of the most illustrious men of our time. 

Gifts from the nation, from corporations, from 
individuals were heaped upon him. Congress voted 
him a gold medal, which was executed at Geneva 
by Bovy, one of a celebrated family of French art- 
ists. Numerous swords were presented to him, 
many of which are preserved in the department of 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 293 

Grant relics in the National Museum at Washing- 
ton. One of these, the gift of the citizens of Jo 
Daviess County, Illinois, contains the names of his 
battles and sieges — thirty-two in all. 

Among other gifts presented to General Grant, 
may be mentioned a house and furniture, valued 
at thirty thousand dollars, by citizens of Philadel- 
phia; a house completely furnished, worth half that 
amount, a present from his old Galena friends and 
former neighbors; horses valued at ten thousand 
dollars; a handsome library, which cost five thou- 
sand dollars, the gift of a few Boston gentlemen; 
and the munificent sum of one hundred thousand 
dollars in cash with which to purchase a home, pre- 
sented by citizens of New York. Among the shower 
of honors that were heaped upon the successful sol- 
dier was the degree of Doctor of Laws by Harvard 
University and other institutions of learning. 

Congress having, in July, 1866, created the 
grade of general, the President immediately ad- 
vanced Lieutenant-General Grant to that exalted 
position — one which never before existed under 
our Government. Washington was general of the 
Continental army and under the Confederation; but 
in the United States army he was only lieutenant 
general. The vacancy created by Grant's promo- 
tion to the new grade was now filled by the appoint- 
ment of Major-General W. T. Sherman. After 
the general's two terms of the presidency it was 
proposed to create the grade of field marshal for 
Grant, but the plan not being favorably received in 
some military quarters, the scheme was abandoned 
by its promoter. President Hayes. 



294 



GENERAL GRANT. 



When, in 1867, President Johnson removed 
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, General 
Grant was appointed Secretary od interim, a phrase 
now famous in our pohtical history. AUhough, as 
general in chief, he had all the departments under 
his charge, some of which caused him much anx- 
iety and trouble, yet his administration of the War 
Department was perfect. Almost immediately after 
entering upon the duties of his new office, he be- 
gan the work of retrenchment and cut down the 
expenses of the department several millions of dol- 
lars. His report at the opening of Congress was a 
clear, statesmanlike document, and it is a singular 
fact that amid the bitter party feeling that prevailed 
at Washington when it was made, and when it 
seemed impossible that any report concerning the 
condition and wants of the South could be written, 
or that he should act as Secretary without being 
the subject of abuse; Grant should, so free was he 
from all party bias, so sincere and apparent his de- 
sire for truth, so simple and straightforward his 
course, have utterly disarmed all party rancor. In 
the midst of widespread venality and corruption, 
no man ever doubted his honesty, though he had 
almost unlimited control over millions of the public 
mpney. His administration as general in chief of 
the army, and as Secretary of War ad inter i)n, was 
not only marked by eminent ability, but distin- 
guished for retrenchment and economy. The Presi- 
dent — no partial witness — in his message of De- 
cember, 1867, to the Senate, said that " salutary re- 
forms have been introduced by the Secretary ad 
interim, and great reductions of expenses have been 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY, 



295 



effected under his administration of the W'ar De- 
partment, to the saving- of millions to the Treasury." 

When the Senate of the United States, on as- 
sembHng in December, 1867, refused to sanction 
the removal of Mr. Stanton, Grant at once vacated 
the office of Secretary of War ad interim, deeming 
it his bounden duty, in accordance with his convic- 
tions, upon a close examination of the Tenure of 
OlBce Bill, to obey the law whether constitutional 
or not, as it was binding upon him until set aside 
by the proper tribunal. 

General Grant's action in the premises led to 
a long correspondence between him and the Presi- 
dent, in the course of which they took diametrically 
opposite grounds in relation to certain occurrences 
that took place in a Cabinet meeting, when the 
question of Stanton's reinstatement by the Senate 
was discussed. Grant, after replying to other points 
in one of the President's communications, says, that 
for him to have continued to retain possession of 
the office would have been in violation of law, and 
subjected him to fine and perhaps imprisonment, 
concludes: "When my honor as a soldier and in- 
tegrity as a man have been so violently assailed, 
pardon me for saying that I can but regard this 
whole matter, from beginning to end, as an attempt 
to involve me in resistance of law, for which you 
hesitated to assume the responsibility, and then to 
destroy my character before the country. I am in 
a measure confirmed in the conclusion by your re- 
cent order from the Secretary of War, my superior 
and your subordinate." 

On Wednesday, May 20th, the National Rcpub- 



296 GENERAL GRANT. 

lican Convention met at Chicago for the purpose 
of nominating candidates for the offtces of Presi- 
dent and \^ice-President of the United States. On 
Thursday General Logan arose, the nominations 
being in order, and said: " In the name of the loyal 
citizens, soldiers, and sailors of this great republic 
of the United States of America — in the name of 
loyalty, liberty, and justice — in the name of the Na- 
tional Union Republican party, I nominate as can- 
didate for the chief magistracy of this nation Ulysses 
S. Grant." Great enthusiasm prevailed on the 
nomination being made, and it was carried by ac- 
clamation, every vote in the convention being given 
for the soldier and patriot. On receiving the official 
notice of his nomination, General Grant wrote the 
following letter of acceptance to the president of 
the Republican Convention, dated Washington, 
D. C, May 29, 1868: 

In formally accepting the nomination of the Na- 
tional Union Republican Convention of the 21st 
of May instant, it seems proper that some state- 
ment of views beyond the mere acceptance of the 
nomination should be expressed. The proceedings 
of the convention were marked with wisdom, mod- 
eration, and patriotism, and I believe express the 
feelings of the great mass of those who sustained 
the country through its recent trials. I indorse the 
resolutions. If elected to the office of President of 
the United States, it will be my endeavor to ad- 
minister all the laws in good faith, with economy, 
and with the view of giving peace, quiet, and pro- 
tection everywhere. In times like the present it 
is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay 
down a policy to be adhered to, right or wrong, 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 297 

through an administration of four years. New po- 
htical issues, not foreseen, are constantly arising; 
the views of the pubHc on old ones are constantly 
changing, and a purely administrative officer should 
always be left free to execute the will of the people. 
I have always respected that will, and always shall. 
Peace and universal prosperity — its sequence — with 
economy of administration, will lighten the burden 
of taxation, while it constantly reduces the national 
debt. Let us have peace. 

Six months later he was chosen by the almost 
universal voice of the American people to the high- 
est position in their gift — a position than which 
there is none higher. Upon entering on his new 
office, he resigned his commission as general in the 
army. Sherman was immediately promoted to the 
place vacated by Grant, and Sheridan became lieu- 
tenant general. Each of the great wars of the 
United States have given Presidents to the coun- 
try. Beginning with that of 1776, we have Wash- 
ington, followed by that of 1812, which gave us 
Jackson and Harrison. The war with Mexico made 
Taylor President in lieu of Scott, the real hero, who 
was personally unpopular, while the recent conflict 
between freedom and slavery elevated Grant to the 
presidency — the fifth soldier elected to the position 
of Chief Magistrate, and, except Washington and 
Jackson, the only one re-elected for a second term 
of four years. Hayes, Garfield, and McKinley were 
also doubtless chiefly indebted to their war records 
for their elevation to the presidency. 

At the twenty-first election for President and 
Vice-President the Democratic competitors of U. S. 



298 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Grant, of Illinois, and Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, 
were Horatio Seymour, of New York, and Frank 
P. Blair, of jMissouri. Grant and Colfax carried 
twenty-six States and received two hundred and 
fourteen electoral votes, against eighty for Sey- 
mour and Blair. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas 
did not vote.* Grant was inaugurated eighteenth 
President March 4, 1869, and in his inaugural 
address announced that it would be the general 
policy of his administration to secure peace, pros- 
perity, and harmony throughout the entire Union 
as far as it were possible: first, by strict integrity 
in fulfilling all our obligations; second, by securing 
protection to the person and property of each citi- 
zen of the United States in every portion of our 
common country, wherever he may choose to move, 
without reference to original nationality, religion, 
color, or politics, demanding of him only obedience 
to the law and proper respect for the rights of 
others; and third, by cementing all the States into 
an indestructible Union, with equal State rights 
and constitutional guarantees. At that time three 
of the States lately in rebellion had not been re- 
stored to their Federal relations. 

On the next day the President sent to the Senate 
the following nominations for Cabinet officers: Eli- 
hu B. Washburne, of Illinois, Secretary of State; 
Alexander T. Stewart, of New York, Secretary of 
the Treasury; Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio, Secretary of 
the Interior; Adolph E. Boric, of Pennsylvania, 



* The popular vote was for President, Ulysses S. Grant, Illi- 
nois, 3,013,188; for Ilor.itio Seymour, New York, 2,703,600. 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 



299 



Secretary of the Navy; John INI. Schofield, of lUi- 
nois, Secretary of War; John A.J.Creswell, of Mary- 
land, Postmaster General; and E. Rockwood Hoar, 
of Massachusetts, Attorney-General. These nomi- 
nations were at once confirmed, but it was discov- 
erd by the politicians who were opposed to him 
that Mr. Stewart was disqualified by an act of 1789, 
which provided that no person should hold the 
ofifice of Secretary of the Treasury who was " di- 
rectly or indirectly concerned or interested in carry- 
ing" on the business of trade or commerce." The 
President, in a brief message, thereupon suggested 
to Congress that Mr. Stewart be exempted by joint 
resolution from the action of the law, he being willing 
to surrender his great business to meet the legal 
objections. This being opposed by the politicians, 
Stewart declined the office, and George S. Bout- 
well, of Massachusetts, was appointed in his place. 
Grant regretted losing the services of Mr. Stewart, 
who would, as he said to an intimate friend, " have 
saved the Government a million a year." 

Soon afterward Mr. Washburne gave up the 
office of Secretary of State, being appointed Minis- 
ter to France, and was succeeded by Hamilton Fish, 
of New York. The writer happened to be with 
Mr. Fish in his library when he telegraphed a 
declination of the office, and was also with him when 
the late General Babcock arrived a day or two later 
with a long autograph letter from Grant, renewing 
the ofTer and urging its acceptance. General Scho- 
field next retired, and was succeeded as Secretary 
of War by John A. Rawlins, of Illinois, who died 
in September, when the vacancy was filled by Wil- 



300 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Ham W. Belknap, of Iowa. Mr. Borie resigned in 
June, and was succeeded by George M. Robeson, 
of New Jersey. Mr. Hoar resigned in July, 1870, 
and w^as succeeded by Amos J.Akerman,of Georgia, 
who resigned in December, 1871, and his place was 
filled by George H. Williams, of Oregon. Mr. Cox 
resigned in November, 1870, and was succeeded by 
Columbus Delano, of Ohio. 

As the President was in political harmony with 
the majority of Congress, the reconstruction of the 
lately rebellious States, which had been delayed by 
the lack of such harmony during the previous ad- 
ministration, now progressed rapidly. On May 
19th the President announced by proclamation that 
the eight-hour law, having been passed by Con- 
gress, would thereafter be in force without reduc- 
tion of wages for all workmen and mechanics em- 
ployed by the United States. In June, 1870, the 
Senate rejected the Santo Domingo Treaty, which 
had been advocated and urged by the President. 
In February, 1871, the difficulties with England, 
growing out of the " Alabama Claims " and other 
dififerences,were brought before a "Joint Pligh Com- 
mission " at Washington, consisting of live Ameri- 
can and five British members. The so-called Ala- 
bama Claims were submitted to a Court of Arbi- 
tration to meet at Geneva. Switzerland, which, on 
September 14, 1872, awarded the sum of $15,500,- 
000 in gold to be paid by England for damages to 
American commerce by Confederate cruisers fitted 
out in British ports. 

The important question of a definite Northwest- 
ern boundary, which had not been satisfactorily 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 301 

determined by the treaty of June 15, 1846, was re- 
ferred to the Emperor of Germany, who, on Octo- 
ber 21, 1872, rendered his decision in writing, and 
to the follovying elifect, as was announced by the 
President in a message to Congress: "This award 
confirms the United States in their claim on the 
important archipelago of the islands lying between 
the continent and Vancouver Island, which, for 
twenty-six years, since the ratification of the treaty 
of Great Britain, has been contested, and leaves us 
for the first time in the history of the United States 
as a nation without a question of disputed boundary 
between this territory and the possessions of Great 
Britain on this continent." 

In December, 1871, the President sent a mes- 
sage to Congress on the subject of civil service re- 
form, promising to adopt the suggestions of the re- 
port of the commissioners who had been appointed, 
and who recommended a variety of rules, whose 
main object was to secure for the civil service of the 
Government the services of such persons as were 
by experience and education best qualified. The 
chairman of the board, George William Curtis, re- 
signed in March, 1872, because of grave difTerences 
of opinion between the President and himself as to 
the enforcement of the rules. 

As President Grant's first term closed, and the 
question of his renomination came up, no little 
opposition was manifested. Many of the leaders 
of the Republican party, mostly able and brilliant 
men, were opposed to his policy and methods, some 
perhaps honestly, others from personal pique, or 
because his fame dominated theirs. Charles Sum- 



302 



GENERAL GRANT. 



ner, of Massachusetts, was chief of the opposition. 
He had opposed and with others defeated in the 
Senate Grant's wise scheme for the annexation of 
San Domingo. From his seat in the same body in 
May, 1872, he dehvered a strong speech against the 
President, denouncing his administration, declar- 
ing that he had made a plaything and a perquisite of 
his high office, charging him with nepotism in the 
distribution of patronage, and asserting that he had 
conducted public affairs in a manner to secure his 
own renomination. He closed by appealing to the 
Republican party to select some other candidate, 
and to institute reform and purity in the administra- 
tion of the Government. 

Horace Greeley was also with the opposition. 
He had been advocating in the Tribune throughout 
Grant's administration a more liberal treatment of 
the Southern people, and especially the removal of 
political disqualifications imposed upon rebels. In 
Missouri, in 1870, the Republicans, then in control 
of the State Legislature, split upon this vexed ques- 
tion of the removal of these disabilities — the party 
in favor of such removal, led by Carl Scluirz and 
Gratz Brown, called itself Liberal Republican; the 
other faction took the name of Radical or Stalwart 
Republicans. By a coalition of the former with the 
Democrats, Missouri was carried in their interest, 
although the administration lent its support and 
sympathy to the Radicals. 

The next year the presidential nomination of 
1872 was to be made, and the same thing was at- 
tempted in national politics. Horace Greeley was 
at the head of the new movement, and had the sup- 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 



303 



port and countenance of such men as Charles Francis 
Adams, of Massachusetts, ex-Governor Curtin, of 
Pennsylvania, Judge Trumbull, of Illinois, Reuben 
E. Fenton, of New York, Brown and Schurz, of 
Missouri, and many others equally bold and pow- 
erful. These men opposed the renomination of 
President Grant, and, foreseeing that he would be 
selected by the Republican Convention at Philadel- 
phia (called for May 5 and 6, 1872), they held a con- 
vention of the Liberal Republican party in Cincin- 
nati, on May i, 1872, and there nominated an inde- 
pendent ticket — Horace Greeley, of New York, for 
President, and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, for 
Vice-President. The Democratic Convention, which 
met in Baltimore on June 9, 1872, was, after many 
bitter protests, induced to indorse the Cincinnati 
platform, and accept its candidate as its own. The 
Republican Convention at Philadelphia nominated 
Grant for a second term by acclamation. The Presi- 
dent accepted the nomination in the following let- 
ter, dated Washington, June 10, 1872: 

Gentlemen: Your letter of this date, advising 
me of the action of the convention held in Phila- 
delphia, Pa., on the 5th and 6th of this month, and 
of my unanimous nomination for the presidency, is 
received. I accept the nomination, and through 
you return my heartfelt thanks to your constituents 
for this mark of their confidence and support. If 
elected in November, and protected by a kind 
Providence in health and strength to perform the 
duties of the high trust conferred. I promise the 
same zeal and devotion to the good of the whole 
people for the future of my official life as shown in 
the past. Past experience may guide me in avoid- 



304 



GENERAL GRANT. 



ing mistakes inevitable with novices in all profes- 
sions and in all occupations. 

When relieved from the responsibilities of my 
present trust by the election of a successor, whether 
it be at the end of this term or next, I hope to leave 
to him, as Executive, a country at peace within its 
own borders, at peace with outside nations, with a 
credit at home and abroad, and without embarrass- 
ing questions to threaten its future prosperity. 
With the expression of a desire to see a speedy heal- 
ing of all bitterness of feeling between sections, 
parties, or races of citizens, and the time when the 
title of citizen carries with it all the protection and 
privilege to the humblest that it does to the most 
exalted, I subscribe myself, very respectfully, etc. 

Grant and Wilson received two hundred and 
sixty-eight electoral votes against eighty for other 
candidates. Grant's plurality being 762,991. He 
was reinaugurated March 4, 1873, with Henr>^ Wil- 
son as V^ice-President. In his second inaugural ad- 
dress the President used these words: " It is my 
firm conviction that the civilized world is tending 
to a reform of government by the people through 
their chosen representatives, and that our great re- 
public is destined to be the guiding star to all 
others." And again: "The States lately at war 
with the General (Government are now happily re- 
united, and no executive control is exercised in any 
one of them that would not be exercised in any 
other Slate luidcr like circumstances^ In the first 
year of the past administration, the proposition came 
up for the admission of San Domingo as a Terri- 
tory of the Union. It was not of my seeking, but 
emanated from the people of San Domingo. I be- 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 



305 



lieved that it was best for the interests of all con- 
cerned that the proposition should be received fa- 
vorably. It was, however, regarded unfavorably, 
and therefore the subject was never brought up by 
me again. In the future, while I hold my present 
offtce, the subject of the acquisition of territory must 
have the support of the people before I will recom- 
mend any proposition looking to such acquisition. 
I say, however, that I do not share in the apprehen- 
sion held by many as to the danger of the Govern- 
ment becoming weakened and destroyed by reason 
of its extension, but rather believe that our Great 
Ruler is preparing the world in his own good time 
to become one nation, speaking one language, and 
when armies and navies will no longer be required." 

During the last session of the Forty-second Con- 
gress the salary of the President was increased from 
twenty-five to fifty thousand per annum, and those 
of the Vice-President, Speaker of the House, Jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court and heads of depart- 
ments twenty-five per cent. William M. Richard- 
son, of Massachusetts, became Secretary of the 
Treasury March 4, 1873, and was succeeded, June 
2, 1874, by Benjamin H. Bristow, of Kentucky. 
On the death of Chief- Justice Chase, in 1873, Presi- 
dent Grant nominated successively Caleb Gushing, 
George H. Williams, and Morrison R. Waite, of 
Ohio, to be chief justices, the last named being 
promptly confirmed by the Senate, the two first 
having failed of confirmation. 

No administration of later times has been more 
severely and perhaps more unjustly criticised than 
that of General Grant. Perhaps the worst which 



3o6 



GENERAL GRANT. 



can be honestly said of it was that, while he gained 
no unlawful profits himself, he did not restrain with 
a sufficiently firm hand those who were plundering 
the Government. His amiable weakness was a too 
implicit faith in those who succeeded in gaining 
his confidence, but to deny him ability as a states- 
man, and that he was only a soldier, or to assert 
that his administration was productive of little 
or no good to his country, would be both dishon- 
est and unjust. There were grave difficulties in 
his way such as had assailed few, if any, of his 
predecessors. 

The country had not then recovered from the 
demoralization caused by the civil war; the Fif- 
teenth Amendment had not been ratified by the re- 
quired number of States; then his accession to 
the presidency brought down upon him a formida- 
ble army of office seekers whom it was difficult to 
placate. In the South, bands of armed men united 
with lawless secret societies to defeat the ends of 
justice. The powers conferred upon him for the 
restoration of peace and order were, in the opinion 
of many jurists, of doubtful constitutionality. Party 
rancor was never more envenomed or excessive. 
An oppressive public debt weighed down the ener- 
gies of the people. The nation's credit was being 
impaired by the wild schemes of repudiators and 
inflationists; the war had nearly swept our mer- 
chant marine from the seas, leaving still open dis- 
putes whose settlement required great wisdom and 
the astutcst diplomatic skill. The Indians were 
threatening our frontiers, and their treatment was 
as vexed a question as ever assailed statesman or 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 



307 



philanthropist. Let us see how these grave prob- 
lems were met and solved. 

At the outset he declared that he would have no 
policy to enforce against the will of the people. 
His first inaugural address presented certain meas- 
ures intended to strengthen the public credit, and 
which when formulated into a statute gave the 
world an official pledge of financial honesty. He 
recommended and used his influence to secure the 
ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Con- 
stitution, providing for the readmission of all the 
States to the Union, and in the second year of his 
administration proclaimed its formal adoption. He 
recommended the refunding of the national debt, 
and signed an act authorizing the creation of bonds 
at four-per-cent interest, which were successfully 
negotiated. He urged measures for a restoration of 
our merchant marine and for a reform in the civil 
service, and, in the face of the opposition of some 
of his nearest and best friends, organized the first 
civil service board. By suspending the writ of 
habeas corpus where needed, and boldly bringing the 
leaders to justice, he suppressed lawlessness in the 
South, and compelled obedience to Federal author- 
ity. He inaugurated the principle of arbitration in 
international disputes, and by its use settled the 
Alabama Claims, the San Juan boundary question, 
and gained from Spain ample apologies and sub- 
stantial reparation long withheld. 

In his first message the President urged the 
Christianizing and civilizing of the Indians. His 
policy placed them on reservations, educated them, 
and sought to render them self-supporting and an 



308 



GENERAL GRANT. 



integral part of the nation. In the Franco-German 
War his proclamation so clearly defined American 
rights and duties toward both parties that we were 
able to escape all entanglements and complications 
on account of it. During the siege of Paris the 
protection of the American flag was extended by 
his instructions to all people without the protection 
of a flag of their own, thus preventing much suffer- 
ing and loss. In the third year of his first term 
amnesty was proclaimed to those who had borne 
arms against the Government in the late war, and 
almost all their civil rights were restored. He 
vetoed the acts for the inflation of the currency, and 
thus saved the credit and honor of the nation. He 
urged the resumption of specie payments, and was 
largely responsible for the Resumption Act of 1875. 
He suppressed the formidable " Whisky Ring," 
pursuing and properly punishing the offenders. 

While he was President the national debt was 
reduced over $450,000,000, taxes over $300,000,000, 
the balance of trade was changed from $130,000,000 
against to $130,000,000 in our favor, the Atlantic 
and Pacific were united by a transcontinental rail- 
way, and reconstruction became an accomplished 
fact. As he had promised in his second letter of 
acceptance, he left a country at peace within its own 
borders, as well as with other nations, with a credit 
at home and abroad, and without embarrassing 
questions to threaten its future prosperity. 

The time came for him to lay down the burden 
of his ofiice. Many of his countrymen were desir- 
ous that he should accept a third term, but he pleas- 
antly yet firmly refused, saying that it would prove 



PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY. 



309 



a bad precedent, and would be unwise both for him- 
self and for the country. 

In a private letter written three years later the 
general says : " In regard to your suggestion that I 
should authorize some one to say that in no event 
would I consent to ever being a candidate after 
1880, I think any statement from me would be mis- 
construed. Such a statement might well be made 
after the nomination, if I am nominated in such a 
way as to accept. ... I &«5 so much to the Union <-• 
men of the country that if they think my chances 
are better for election than for other probable candi- 
dates in case I should decline, that I can not de- 
cline if the nomination is tendered without seeking 
on my part. . . . All I desire is that the Govern- 
ment rule should remain in the hands of those who • 
saved the Union until all the questions growing 
out of the war are forever settled." 

His second term expired March 4, 1877. In 
his farewell message he gave this admirable advice 
to the nation : That the States should be obliged to 
furnish a good common-school education to all, and 
that the attendance of children therein should be 
compulsory; that no sectarian creeds nor tenets 
should be taught in any school; that after the year 
1890 no person unable to read and write should be 
allowed to vote; that Church and State should be 
declared forever separate and distinct, while the ut- 
most freedom of worship should be secured to all; 
and that laws should be enacted to return to sound 
currency. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 

How to live with honor and dignity after leav- 
ing their exalted ofifice is the problem with most 
of our retiring Presidents. A further public career 
is by custom denied to them. John Quincy Adams 
is, we believe, the only ex-President who has vio- 
lated this unwritten law. In Grant's case he had 
resigned the position of general of the army to as- 
sume the presidency, and was now simply a private 
citizen. He decided to improve this opportunity 
to carry out a long-cherished desire of visiting the 
Old World, which he had not seen. His fame had 
spread throughout the world, and a reception such 
as would have been accorded to few, if any, reign- 
ing monarchs awaited him even in the remotest 
corners of the earth. The greatest of English jour- 
nals, after announcing his proposed tour, gave a 
long and critical sketch of his career, in which it 
said: " On the whole, he will probably be one of 
those characters to whom the generous saying will 
be ap])lied, ' He was a great man, and I have for- 
gotten all his faults.' Nothing, at all events, but 
his virtues and his great achievements will be re- 
310 

-')' 6 , "^T- '■ 

^ /-•/. . •' 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 311 

membcrcd when he visits this country. He will be 
welcomed as one of the most distinguished men 
whom the United States have yet produced, and 
he will attract to himself the hearty friendliness with 
which Englishmen regard the great representatives 
of their race in the New World." 

The general sailed from Philadelphia May 17, 
1877, accompanied by Mrs. Grant and his youngest 
son. The first land made was at Queenstown, where 
a deputation came to greet the distinguished visitor 
with cheers, and offered him the hospitalities of 
that town, declaring that the remotest hamlets in 
Ireland were familiar with his name, and would 
welcome him with the warmth and hospitality char- 
acteristic of the Irish people. The ex-President 
replied that he could not then accept their proffered 
hospitality, but that he would return and visit Ire- 
land within a short period. As the steamer pro- 
ceeded up the Mersey, and came in view of Liver- 
pool, the entire seven miles of water front was seen 
to be gay with bunting and crowds of people in- 
tent upon welcoming the illustrious American. 

The United States consul general at London 
with a deputation of merchants and others had 
sailed down the river in three tenders to meet and 
escort the Indiana to her dock. As she came near, 
the people on the piers, catching sight of the gen- 
eral as he stood upon the bridge with the captain, 
cheered heartily. When the party landed they were 
met by the mayor of Liverpool, members of the 
Common Council, and a deputation of merchants. 
The mayor delivered an address of welcome, to 
which the general briefly replied, and then the official 



312 



GENERAL GRANT. 



programme was fully carried out. His arrival and 
the ceremonies of welcome attending it were chroni- 
cled at length in all the British newspapers. All 
declared his visit to be one of international impor- 
tance. " His name," said one, " is so closely inter- 
woven with recent events in the history of the 
United States that not only in America but through- 
out Europe he is entitled to respectful treatment 
in a degree which it is the lot of but very few to 
command. It urges, therefore, free and generous 
receptions everywhere." 

On May 30th the general and his party set out 
for London by the way of Manchester, passing the 
night at the latter city. Crowds gathered at every 
station and loudly cheered the party. At Man- 
chester they were met by the mayor and aldermen, 
escorted about the city, and then to the new Town- 
hall, where the distinguished visitor was received 
by the Dean of Alanchester and other dignitaries, 
and an address of welcome from the mayor and 
corporation was presented in the drawing-room. 
At London the party was met by Edwards Pierre- 
pont, the American Minister, on behalf of the L^nited 
States and by Lord Vernon as the representative of 
the United Kingdom, the usual crowd surrounding 
the station and applauding. There was no time for 
speechmaking, however, and the party entered car- 
riages and were driven to the residence of the 
American Minister, whose guests they were to be. 

Two days later General Grant called on the 
Prince of Wales, and was invited to see the Epsom 
races in company with the Prince. On the even- 
ing of June 5th a reception was given him by the 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD, 313 

American Minister, and the next day the general 
and Mrs. Grant dined in the Waterloo banqueting 
hall of Apsley House with the Duke of Wellington, 
eldest son of the illustrious " Iron Duke." On the 
8th he paid a visit to the Agricultural Exhibition at 
Bath, and met with a most cordial reception; later 
he dined with the Duke of Devonshire, where he 
met about fifty members of the House of Lords 
and others. On the 15th one of the most highly 
prized distinctions of his visit was conferred on him 
— the freedom of the city of London. This was no 
common distinction, having never been conferred 
except on the most worthy and distinguished. The 
presentation to General Grant was a more than 
ordinarily interesting occasion. 

At an early hour traffic was prohibited in the 
streets in the vicinity of the Guildhall, in order not 
to interfere with the free passage of carriages 
through King Street and the Old Jewry. Traffic 
was also suspended on the west as far as St. Mar- 
tin's-le-Grand and St. Paul's, and on the east to the 
Bank of England, the Stock Exchange, Lombard 
Street, King William, and Moorgate Streets. As 
Grant left his carriage at the Guildhall, he was re- 
ceived by a deputation of officials in gorgeous crim- 
son robes, their gold chains of station glittering in 
the sun. Passing on through the corridor, where a 
company of City Guards and Yeomen presented 
arms, he was conducted into the library, and with 
characteristic composure walked toward the Lord 
Mayor's chair and took a seat on the left of the 
dais. The chamberlain then arose and read the 
formal address tendering the freedom of the city, 



3H 



GENERAL GRANT. 



and which referred to the fact that he was the first 
President of the American Republic on whom that 
honor had been conferred. 

At its close Grant arose and in a speech appro- 
priate to the occasion returned thanks for the honor 
conferred, and then signed his name to the roll, 
with the clerk and chamberlain as compurgators. 
The party then partook of refreshments in the great 
banqueting hall, which was draped with English 
and American flags for the occasion. Toasts fol- 
lowed, the first being " The Queen," the second 
" The health of General Grant," which was drunk 
by the guests standing, amid hearty cheering. 
Speaking to the toast, the Lord ]\Iayor said: " I, 
as chief magistrate of the city of London, and on 
the part of the corporation, offer you as hearty a 
welcome as the sincerity of language can convey. 
Your presence here as the late President of the 
United States is especially gratifying to all classes 
of the community, and we feel that, although this 
is your first visit to England, it is not a stranger 
that we greet, but a tried and honored friend. Twice 
occupying as you did the exalted position of Presi- 
dent of the L^nited States, and therefore one of the 
foremost representatives of that country, we con- 
fer honor upon ourselves by honoring you. Let 
me express both the hope and belief that when you 
take your departure you will feci that many true 
friends of yours, personally and also of your coun- 
trymen, have been left behind. I have the distin- 
guished honor to propose your health. May you 
live long to enjoy the best of health and unqualified 
happiness." 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 



3'5 



The golden casket containing the freedom is a 
beautiful work of art, and was always highly prized 
by the general. It is oblong, in the Cinquccento 
style, the corners bearing American eagles, and 
richly decorated. The reverse bears a view of the 
entrance to the Guildhall and an appropriate in- 
scription. At each end is a figure in gold, finely 
modeled and chased, one representing the city of 
London, the other the United States, and bearing 
the respective shields of each — the latter in enamel. 
The cover is surmounted by the arms of the city 
of London, and bears a cornucopia, emblematic of 
the fertility and resources of the United States. The 
casket is supported by American eagles modeled in 
gold, the whole standing on a velvet plinth deco- 
rated with the Stars and Stripes. This beautiful box 
is included among the many Grant memorials in 
the National Museum. 

On the 1 8th the general was a guest of the Re- 
form Club, where he met a distinguished company. 
On the 26th he was received by the Queen at Wind- 
sor Castle, the party, including Mrs. Grant and the 
American Minister, dining with the Queen and re- 
turning to London the following morning. The 
next evening a State concert was given at Bucking- 
ham Park, at which General and Mrs. Grant, the 
Prince and Princess of Wales, the Emperor and 
Empress of Brazil, and almost all the members of 
the royal family were present. 

On July 5th he crossed over to the continent, 
going first to Brussels, where he received the honor 
of a visit from the King of Belgium, and later was 
invited to dine at the palace. Next morning all the 



3i6 GENERAL GRANT. 

foreign ministers at the capital called to pay their 
respects, and on the 14th a grand reception was 
tendered him by the municipality in the Gesell- 
schaftshaus of the Zoological Garden, the chief 
burgomaster presenting the guests. From Belgium 
General Grant passed through Switzerland, and 
thence into Italy, everywhere received with the 
•greatest honor and friendliness. From Italy he re- 
turned to Edinburgh, where, among other marks of 
esteem, the freedom of the city was conferred upon 
him. Glasgow also bestowed upon him the same 
honor. Late in October he left London for Paris, 
at Folkstone taking the special yacht Victoria for 
Boulogne. When the party reached the French 
capital they were met at the station by the Marquis 
d'Abzac, first aid-de-camp of the President, who 
tendered General Grant a cordial welcome in the 
name of the French Republic. INIany distinguished 
Americans and Frenchmen were also in waiting, 
and escorted the party to the Hotel Bristol, where 
apartments had been engaged for them. 

During his stay in Paris the most eminent men 
of France were among his visitors. He was re- 
ceived at the Elysee by the President, Marshal 
McMahon, and later was invited to dine at the 
Elysee. After more than a month of dinners, re- 
ceptions, balls, and banquetings. General Grant con- 
tinued his tour of the world, going first to Naples 
in the United States steamer Vandalia, reaching that 
place on December 17th. The chief officials of the 
city paid their respects before the general left the 
ship. Then the party visited the city, and some of 
them, including the general, made the ascent of 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 



317 



Vesuvius. The next day they visited Pompeii and 
Herculaneum, the buried cities of the plain. In a 
few days the journey was continued to Egypt, the 
steamer calhng at Malta on the way, where General 
Grant received a visit from the Duke of Edinburgh, 
and was the recipient of flattering hospitalities. 

The party reached Alexandria on January 5, 
1878. " Our reception was most enthusiastic," 
wrote one of the travelers. " The Vandalia had 
hardly anchored when the governor of the district, 
the admiral, and the generals, pashas, and beys, the 
consul general, Mr. Farman, the vice-consul, Mr. 
Salvage, Judges Barringer and Morgan, and the 
missionaries all came on board. The reception 
lasted an hour, and as each officer was saluted ac- 
cording to his rank, and the salutes were returned, 
there was smoke enough in the air for a naval en- 
gagement." After this the governor, in the name 
of the Khedive, welcomed the distinguished visitor 
to Egypt, placing at his disposal a palace in Cairo 
and a special steamer up the Nile. As it is Oriental 
etiquette to return calls promptly, the general and 
party paid their respects the same afternoon, land- 
ing in the official barge of the Vand?lia, while the 
latter fired a salute of twenty-one guns, to which 
the Egyptian vessels responded. 

At the palace a guard of honor received the 
party, and escorted them to a spacious chamber, 
where they were seated on a cushioned seat or 
divan, according to rank. The pasha offered the 
company cigarettes; an interchange of compliments 
followed, the pasha saying that Egypt was proud to 
welcome so illustrious a stranger, and the general 



3l8 GENERAL GRANT. 

answering that he anticipated great pleasure in visit- 
ing Egypt. At a signal from the pasha slaves 
entered, bearing small porcelain cups about the size 
of an egg in filigree cases. They contained in this 
case not cofifee, but a hot drink spiced with cinna- 
mon. After drinking, the conversation continued 
in slow and dignified measure for five minutes, the 
pasha having the Oriental slowness of speech, and 
the general's proverbial reticence not being im- 
proved by the occasion. Then the party rose and 
filed slowly downstairs, the attendants and guards 
saluting, and the visit was over. At Cairo the gen- 
eral resided during his stay in the palace Kassul 
Doussa, placed at his disposal by the Khedive. Im- 
mediately on arriving, he paid a call of ceremony to 
the Khedive, who received him with every mark 
of esteem. Scarcely had the party returned to the 
palace when the carriage of the Khedive was an- 
nounced, and the ruler of Egypt, accompanied by 
his Secretary for Foreign Affairs, entered, and was 
received in the grand saloon. 

The general's journey up the Nile occupied one 
month, and was performed in a steam vessel placed 
at his disposal by the Khedive, under direction of 
officers of the latter's household. One of these was 
a German antiquary, Emile Brugsch, a director of 
the Egyptian ]\Iuseum, whose learned and luminous 
accounts of the ruins and places of interest visited 
added greatly to the enjoyment of the party. Re- 
turning to Cairo, the travelers proceeded to Port 
Said, where the \"andalia was waiting for them. As 
soon as they were eml)arkcd she put to sea and ran 
over to JafTa, reaching it on Fcl)ruary loth, and 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 319 

introducing them to the Holy Land. At Jaffa, over 
the public street through which they must pass, was 
an archway of branches and flowers, bearing the 
inscription, " Welcome to General Grant." The 
party proceeded to Jerusalem, hoping to enter 
it unobserved, like any group of travelers; but the 
pasha had heard of their coming, and sent a small 
army of his servants to welcome them without the 
gates, and to present the pasha's pure white Arab 
steed in housings of gold for the general to ride 
when entering the Holy City. 

Their entree was by the ancient and historic 
gate that Tancred forced with his crusaders, under 
the walls of the Tower of David. The official 
ceremonies followed — the calling of the pasha in 
state, of the foreign consuls, and of the bishops and 
patriarchs, who blessed the general and his house. 
The pasha offered his guard and band of fifty pieces 
to accompany the visitors about the city, but the 
prospect was so appalling that it was declined with 
as much courtesy as possible to avoid giving of- 
fense. He then invited them to a state dinner, 
which all attended. After spending three days in 
Jerusalem, the party returned to Rome, visiting on 
the way Damascus, Beyroot, Smyrna, Constanti- 
nople, Athens, Corinth, and Syracuse. 

In the Eternal City the same spontaneous ova- 
tions awaited him from all classes. King Humbert 
gave him a grand dinner, which was attended by all 
of his ministers, and at which toasts were drank to 
his health and speeches made in his praise. At 
Florence, Venice, Milan, and Genoa the customary 
welcome was extended. Thence the party returned 



320 



GENERAL GRANT. 



to Paris, where a month was spent, studying, among 
other things, the Paris Exposition, recently opened. 
From Paris the general went to Holland, where he 
received a warm welcome from the Dutch Govern- 
ment. Thence to the capital of Germany, the same 
distinguished honors awaiting him there. Prince 
Bismarck called twice in person, the general hav- 
ing been out at his first call, and later entertained 
him at dinner. The Crown Prince ordered a re- 
view of the army and a sham battle in his honor. 
The Emperor's health was in so precarious a state 
that his physicians forbade him the pleasure of 
receiving the visitor. Denmark, Norway, and 
Sweden were next visited, the party proceeding by 
way of Hamburg, and being everywhere royally 
welcomed and entertained. 

From Stockholm the route was by way of the 
Baltic to St. Petersburg, where he arrived on the 
morning of July 30th. Prince Gortschakofif with 
other of^cials of the imperial court soon called, and 
in the name of the Czar welcomed him to Russia. 
On the following day the Emperor granted him an 
audience at Pcterhof, the Versailles of Russia, fif- 
teen miles from St. Petersburg, the imperial yacht 
conveying him thither. At the close of the inter- 
view the Emperor accompanied Geiieral Grant to 
the door, and as he took leave said, " Since the 
foundations of your Government the relations be- 
tween Russia and America have been of the friend- 
liest character, and as long as I live nothing shall 
be spared to continue the friendship." 

After enjoying manv oilier civilities from the 
Russians, lie visited Austria, arriving at Vienna 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 



321 



on August 1 8th, the usual welcome and hospitality 
being extended by both Government and people. 
Thence he went to other Austrian towns and cities, 
returning to Paris September 25th; but the party 
soon left the French capital for a visit to the 
Pyrenees. At Bordeaux a message was received 
from the young King of Spain, inviting General 
Grant to visit Vltoria, where he was reviewing his 
troops. The general accepted, and journeyed on 
toward that town. At San Sebastian he was received 
with every mark of honor and esteem by Emilio 
Castelar, ex-President of the Spanish Republic. At 
Irun, on the frontier, he was met by one of Al- 
fonso's generals, who welcomed him in the King's 
name, and placed his Majesty's special car at his 
disposal. Arriving at \'itoria, he was received by 
the King in his palace, and had a long conversa- 
tion with the amiable young monarch. Thence 
proceeding to Madrid, Grant was welcomed by the 
civil authorities on behalf of the King. 

The general next went to Lisbon, and was ac- 
corded an audience and a long conversation with 
the King of Portugal. After Lisbon his tour led 
through the Spanish cities and vales 'to Gibraltar, 
where he greatly enjoyed his visit to Lord Napier, 
of Magdala, thence to Dublin, to London, and to 
Marseilles, embarking there for Bombay z'ia the 
Suez Canal, stopping only at Aden for the mails. 
No formal intelligence of their coming had been 
sent, and the party expected and perhaps hoped to 
disembark quietly and proceed to a hotel unrecog- 
nized, but the newspapers had heraled their com- 
ing, and as the Venetia entered the harbor they 



322 



GENERAL GRANT. 



found the shipping decked with flags and on the 
wharves a great company of natives, soldiers, and 
Europeans. As they passed the British flagship 
a boat pulled alongside, containing an officer, who 
welcomed the general to India in the name of Ad- 
miral Corbett, the commander of the fleet. 

This visitor was quickly followed by an aid to 
Sir Richard Temple, Governor of the Presidency of 
Bombay, who bore a letter from the governor wel- 
coming General Grant to Bombay, and tendering 
him the use of the Government House at Malabar 
Point during his stay — a courtesy which was ac- 
cepted. The usual round of balls, receptions, and 
state dinners followed. His presence awakened the 
same enthusiasm in all the cities of India visited. 
At Calcutta the viceroy, Lord Lytton, gave a recep- 
tion in his honor, introducing him to the native 
princes of rank. From India the party proceeded 
to China through the Straits of Malacca, stopping 
at Burmah and Siam. 

It had not been the original intention to visit 
Siam, which was not on the direct route to China, 
but at Singapore the general was met by the Ameri- 
can consul, Major Struder, with a letter from the 
King of Siam — a letter in an envelope of blue satin, 
and dated at the Grand Palace, Bangkok, February 
4, 1879, in which his Majesty begged to express the 
pleasure he would have in making his acquaintance. 
" Possibly," it continued, " you may arrive at Bang- 
kok during my absence at my country residence 
Bang Pa, in which case a steamer will be placed 
at your disposal to bring you to me. On arriving, 
I beg you to communicate with his excellency !ny 



I 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 323 

Tilinister for Foreign Affairs, who will arrange for 
your reception and entertainment." 

Arriving off the bar at Paknam, they waited 
some time for the imperial yacht which w^as to 
convey them to the city. Early on the morning of 
the 15th of April she anchored near the steamer, 
" a long, stately craft with the American colors at 
the fore and the royal colors of Siam at the main." 
In the afternoon the general was row-ed ashore in 
" a royal gondola seven fathoms long," and was re- 
ceived with kingly honors — a guard, a cavalry es- 
cort, a band, a salute of twenty-one guns, and car- 
riages that bore himself and suite to the palace of 
Hwang Saranrom, which had been dedicated to 
their use during their visit to Siam. On the 19th 
the King gave a state dinner in honor of his guests. 
His Majesty wore the family decoration — a star of 
nine points, each point a rich jewel of different 
character, and the center a diamond of great value. 
All the Siamese guests w-ere clad in court costumes. 
The banquet was served in the lower hall or dining 
room; the table service was of silver, the prevailing 
design being the three-headed elephant of the arms 
of Siam. There were forty guests at the dinner, the 
general occupying the seat of honor nearest the 
King, and the Celestial Prince escorting Mrs. Grant 
and seating her opposite his ^Majesty. The menu 
was an elaborate one, and served in European style. 

After the dinner the King welcomed the general 
in an eulogistic address, to which the latter replied 
by proposing the health of the King. The latter 
then led the way to the upper audience chamber, 
or salon of the statues, where a long conversation 



3^4 



GENERAL GRANT. 



between the King and his guest ensued, while Mrs. 
Grant in an inner room enjoyed a tcte-d-tete with 
the Queen, who had not been present at the ban- 
quet. In his conversation wath the general the 
King became most cordial. He was proud to have 
met so distinguished a soldier, and wished to know 
more of the American people. He hoped they 
would always consider him a friend to their coun- 
try, and when the general returned to his own land 
he desired him to write him a letter, to which he 
w'ould reply, and so they would continue friends and 
correspondents. General Grant in reply said he 
should always remember his visit to Siam, that he 
would be glad to write to the King and hear from 
him in return, and if he could be of service to him 
or to his country it would give him great pleasure. 
From Siam the party proceeded in the United 
States frigate Richmond to Canton, where the gen- 
eral was received with royal honors by the vice- 
roy, and later was entertained at dinner by him. 
The party went in state, amid dense crowds and 
the firing of salutes to the vice-regal mansion, where 
the viceroy and his retinues were all in waiting, and 
were shown into the great audience chamber and 
ofifered tea. Then, after an interchange of compli- 
ments, a ])roccssion was formed and marched to the 
dining hall, which was a long distance from the 
audience chamber, and open on three sides to the 
gardens. " Around the open sides was a wall of 
servants, attendants, soldiers, and madarins, and if 
one looked beyond into the gardens, under the cor- 
ruscating foliage burdened with variegated lan- 
terns, he saw groups and lines all staring in upon 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 



325 



him." The incnu was entirely Chinese, and also the 
table service, except the knives, forks, and glasses, 
which were of European manufacture. 

After Canton the party visited Hong-Kong, 
Amoy, and Shanghai, at each place being received 
with the usual ceremonies of welcome. From 
Shanghai they proceeded to Tientsin and Peking, 
where the highest dignitaries of government, in- 
cluding the great statesman who last year visited 
the general's tomb, received them with every mark 
of honor and esteem. Grant did not ask nor expect 
an audience with the Emperor, who was a child 
seven years of age. From China the Richmond 
bore them to Japan — a country possessing peculiar 
interest for the general, since it had but recently 
been opened to the Western world. His reception 
was as gratifying as could have been desired. Soon 
after entering the port of Nagasaki the royal barge 
was seen approaching, bearing Prince Dati, one of 
the highest noblemen of Japan, Mr. Yoshida. who 
had been the Japanese IMinister to the United States 
during General Grant's term, and the governor. 
They were received with due honors and escorted 
to the cabin, where Prince Dati said he had been 
commanded by the Emperor to welcome the gen- 
eral in the name of his Majesty, and to attend him 
as the personal representative of the Emperor as 
long as he should remain in the countrv. 

This designation of a man so high in rank as 
the Prince was the highest compliment the Emperor 
could pay a guest. There were great crowds upon 
the quay to meet him as he landed, and he held 
an impromptu reception upon the platform, the 



326 GENERAL GRANT. 

principal citizens of Nagasaki coming forward and 
being presented. As he went to the palace which 
had been prepared for him in the Japanese quarter, 
the road was arched with green boughs and flow- 
ers, and decked with American and Japanese flags 
intertwined. On each side it was lined with crowds 
of people, who made low obeisance to the party as 
they passed. The usual reception of officials, foreign 
consuls, and delegations, with fetes and dinners, 
followed. After Nagasaki they visited Yokohama, 
where the same ovations were accorded the general. 
One day they drove out to Tokio to pay the Em- 
peror a visit. A lord in waiting came into the re- 
ception room of the palace where all the cabinet 
ministers and the party to be presented were in 
waiting. The general and Mrs. Grant, escorted by 
the American Minister, led, and the retinue fol- 
lowed. They proceeded along a short passage and 
entered another room, at the farther end of which 
the Emperor and Empress were standing, with two 
ladies in waiting near them in a sitting attitude. 
Two princesses standing were the only other occu- 
pants of the room. The party slowly advanced, the 
Japanese with profound obeisances, until it formed 
a group before the Emperor. The latter then ad- 
vanced and shook hands with the general, a great 
innovation of established Japanese etiquette, then 
returned to his place and stood with his hand rest- 
ing on his sword, looking upon the brilliant com- 
pany as if unconscious of its presence. Mr. Bing- 
ham, our Minister, advanced and bowed, receiving 
but the slightest nod in recognition; the other mem- 
bers of the party as they were presented were re- 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 327 

ceived in like manner. General and Mrs. Grant were 
then presented to the princesses, each bowing to the 
other in silence, after which the party withdrew. 

On July 7th there was a grand review of the 
army by both the Emperor and the general, an 
event famous in Japanese annals. At an early hour 
the Emperor's state carriage came for the general, 
the review being appointed for nine o'clock. The 
latter entered, accompanied by Prince Dati, and, 
escorted by cavalry, proceeded to the parade ground 
— a large, open plain densely packed with a vast 
concourse of people, except a wide space reserved 
for the evolutions. There was a large tent for in- 
vited guests, and a smaller one reserved for the 
Emperor. General Grant was conducted to the 
smaller tent, where he was soon joined by his Maj- 
esty, and the review proceeded. Afterward he was 
invited to meet the Emperor at dinner in the Shila 
Palace, and by his Majesty's desire had a private 
and cordial conference with him. 

Early in September Grant and his party bid their 
kind entertainers adieu, and embarked on the 
steamer City of Tokio for home. His fellow-coun- 
trymen had watched for sixteen months the gen- 
eral's tour around the world with the greatest inter- 
est and satisfaction.' America was highly honored 
in the attentions bestowed on her illustrious son, 
and his visit to the nations of the East would aid 
greatly to strengthen the newly formed bonds of 
friendship between the Occident and the Orient. 
They determined, therefore, to give him at least as 
hearty a welcome on his return as he had received 
from foreign governments and peoples. The most 



328 GENERAL GRANT. 

extensive preparations for his reception were made 
at San Francisco. On September 20th, about mid- 
day, the City of Tokio was sighted, and the fact was 
at once telegraphed to the city. The peaUng of bells 
and thunder of cannon soon announced the event 
to the citizens, who for three days had been anxious- 
ly awaiting the arrival of General Grant. 

A small steamer went out to the Tokio with 
the reception committee on board, meeting the ves- 
sel several miles distant, when the committee, hur- 
rying, on board, were conducted to the general. Al- 
most at the same moment a Government steamer 
with General McDowell and his stafif arrived, and 
they were soon on the steamer's deck, both 
parties welcoming the general home with cordial 
greetings. Meanwhile the committee of arrange- 
ments with several thousand invited guests had 
embarked on the large Pacific mail steamer China, 
and on a fleet of smaller steamers, and with the 
graceful craft of the San Francisco and Pacific yacht 
clubs in tow, steamed down the harbor. 

At this time every building and eminence com- 
manding a view of the harbor was black with people 
assembled to witness the pageant. The sun was 
low in the west as the welcoming fleet, gay with 
bunting, moved up the harbor. Every eye of the 
thousands on shore was strained to catch the first 
glimpse of the Tokio. At last a single gun from the 
earthworks above Fort Point announced that the 
steamer was nearing her docks. Fort Point soon 
joined in the welcoming salute, then Fime Point, 
and the batteries at Angel Island, Black Point, and 
Alcatras, until the whole channel was wreathed in 



TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 



329 



smoke from their guns. Out of this gloomy curtain 
the Tokio soon emerged, Hghted by the red glow 
of sunset and the flashes of the guns, and surround- 
ed by her attendant fleet of gayly bedecked vessels. 
Thus, amid the cheers of thousands, the great ship 
slowly rounded to her moorings, and the distin- 
guished party was rowed to the landing place. 

There a triumphal procession was formed, which 
conducted the honored guest to the Palace Hotel, 
the streets being as light as noonday with fireworks 
and illuminations. It was ten o'clock when the gen- 
eral's barouche was driven into the court of the 
hotel. As he alighted a way was opened for him 
through the dense throng, while a chorus of live 
hundred voices in one of the balconies sang an ode 
of welcome. After dinner, in response to repeated 
demands from the people, he appeared and made a 
brief address, and the crowds were induced to dis- 
perse. Receptions and banquets followed for many 
days. In a short time the general proceeded east- 
ward, at all the cities and towns eti route receiving 
the same spontaneous ovations, which culminated 
in that of December 15th, at Philadelphia, where 
his tour of the world began and where it ended. 
Later in the month General Grant continued his 
travels, visiting the Southern States, Mexico, and 
the West Indies, everywhere receiving the most 
earnest expressions of good will and respect. 

The world in the broad circuit of the sun along 
which Grant traveled called him the first Captain 
of the age. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND, 

Perhaps no other person unconnected with the 
army contributed in so great a degree to Grant's suc- 
cess in the civil war as the Hon. E. B. Washburne 
(i8i6-'87), to whom the interesting letters and 
parts of letters were addressed that appear in this 
chapter. The correspondence, beginning in the 
summer of 1861, was continued uninterruptedly 
during a period of nineteen years. It is, however, 
from the earlier letters connected with the rebellion 
to which our extracts chiefly relate. In the last letter 
of the series, dated Galveston, Tex., March 25, 1880, 
the general writes: " It is a matter of supreme in- 
diflference to me whether I am nominated for the 
presidency or not, but I can not decline if the nomi- 
nation is tendered without seeking on my part. 
There are many persons I would prefer should have 
the office to myself." The following is the first of 
the war epistles addressed to Mr. Washburne: 

Cairo, III., Sept. j, iS6t. 
Your very kind letter was received at Jefiferson 
City, and would have been answered at once but for 
330 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 



331 



the remark that you were about to start for New 
York cit}' and would not receive it for some days. 
I should be most pleased to have you pay me the 
visit here, or wherever I may be, that you spoke of 
paying me there. 

In regard to the appointment of Mr. Rawlins,* 
I never had an idea of withdrawing it so long as he 
felt disposed to accept, no matter how long his ab- 
sence. Mr. Rawlins was the first one I decided 
upon for a place with me, and I very much regret 
that family affliction has kept him away so long. 
The past would have been a good school of in- 
struction for him in his new duties; the future bids 
fair to try the backbone of our volunteers. I have 
been kept actively moving from one command to 
another, more so perhaps than any other officer. 
So long as I am of service to the cause of our coun- 
try I do not object, however. 

General Fremont has seen fit to intrust me with 
an important command here, my command em- 
bracing all the troops in southeast Missouri and 
at this place. A little difficulty of an unpleasant 
nature has occurred between General P. and myself 
relative to rank, he refusing to obey my orders; 
but it is to be hoped that he will see his error, and 
not sacrifice the interest of the cause to his am- 
bition to be senior brigadier general of Illinois, as 
he contends he is. 

In conclusion, Mr. Washburne, allow me to 
thank you for the part you have taken in giving 
me my present position. I think I see your hand in 
it, and admit that I had no personal claims for your 
kind office in the matter. I can assure you, how- 
ever, my whole heart is in the cause which we are 

* John A. Rawlins (i83I-'6q) joined General Grant's staff in 
August, 1861, and served with him to the close of the rebellion. 
He became Secretary of War in March, 1869. Grant was greatly 
attached to him, and highly estimated his ability. 



332 GENERAL GRANT. 

fighting for, and I pledge myself that, if equal to 
the task before me, you shall never have cause to 
regret the part you have taken. 

Fort Donelson, Tenn., Feb. zi, 1862. 

Since receiving your letter at Fort Henry events 
have transpired so rapidly that I have scarcely had 
time to write a private letter. That portion of your 
letter which required immediate attention was re- 
plied to as soon as your letter was read. I mean 
that I telegraphed Colonel C. C. Washburn,* Mil- 
waukee, Wis., asking him to accept a place on my 
staff. As he has not yet arrived, I fear my dispatch 
was not received. Will you be kind enough to say 
to him that such a dispatch was sent, and that I 
will be most happy to publish the order the moment 
he arrives assigning him the position you ask. 

On the 13th, 14th, and 15th our volunteers 
fought a battle that would figure well with many 
of those fought in Europe, where large stand- 
ing armies are maintained. I feel very grateful to 
you for having placed me in the position to have 
had the honor of commanding such an army and 
at such a time. I only trust that I have not nor 
will not disappoint you. The effect upon the com- 
munity here is very marked since the battle. De- 
feat, disastrous defeat, is admitted. Yesterday I 
went to Clarkesville with a small escort, two of our 
gunboats having preceded me. Our forces now 
occupy that place, and will take possession of a 
large amount of commissary stores, ammunition, 
and some artillery. The road to Nashville is now 
clear, but whether my destination will be there or 
farther west can't yet be told. I want to move early, 
and no doubt will. 

* Cadwallader Colden Washburn (i8i8-'82), colonel Second 
Wisconsin Cavalry, October 10, 1861 ; brigadier general, July 16, 
1862 ; and major general, November 2g, 1862. 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 



333 



I wish to call your attention to General C. F. 
Smith. It is a pity that our service should lose so 
fine a soldier from a first command. If major gen- 
erals are to be made, a better selection could not 
be made than to appoint Charles F. Smith. 

Savannah, Tenn., March 22, 1862. 

I have received two or three letters from you 
which I have not answered, because at the time 
they were received I was unwell and busy, and either 
your brother or Rowley were about writing. I am 
now getting nearly well and ready for any emerg- 
ency that may arise. A severe contest may be 
looked for in this quarter before many weeks, but 
of the result feel no alarm. 

There are some things which T wish to say to 
you in my own vindication, not that I care one 
straw for what is said individually, but because you 
have taken so much interest in my welfare that I 
think you are fairly entitled to all facts connected 
with my acts. 

I see by the papers that I am charged with giv- 
ing up a certain number of slaves captured at Fort 
Donelson. My published order on the occasion 
shows that citizens were not permitted to pass 
through our camps to look for their slaves. There 
were some six or seven negroes at Donelson, who 
represented that they had been brought from Ken- 
tucky to work for officers, and had been kept a 
number of months without receiving pay. They 
expressed great anxiety to get back to their fami- 
lies, and protested that they were free men. These 
I let go, and none others. I have studiously tried 
to prevent the running ofY of negroes from all out- 
side places, as I have tried to prevent all other 
marauding and plundering. 

So long as I hold a commission in the army I 
have no views of my own to carry out. Whatever 
may be the orders of my superiors and law I will 



334 



GENERAL GRANT. 



execute. No man can be efficient as a commander 
who sets his own notions above law and those whom 
he is sworn to obey. When Congress enacts any- 
thing too odious for me to execute, I wih resign. 

I see the credit of attacking the enemy by the 
way of the Tennessee and Cumberland is variously 
attributed. It is little to talk about it being the 
great wisdom of any general that first brought forth 
this plan of attack. Our gunboats were running 
up the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers all fall 
and winter watching the progress of the rebels on 
these works. General Halleck no doubt thought 
of this route long ago, and I am sure I did. As to 
how the battles should be fought, both ]\IcClellan 
and Halleck are too much of soldiers to suppose 
that they can plan how that should be done at a 
distance. This would presuppose that the enemy 
would make just the moves laid down for them. 
It would be a game of chess, the right hand against 
the left, determining beforehand that the right 
should win. The job being an important one, nei- 
ther of the above generals would have intrusted it 
to an officer who they had not confidence in. So 
far I was highly complimented by both. 

After getting into Donelson General Halleck 
did not hear from me for near two weeks. It was 
about the same time before I heard from him. I 
was writing every day, and sometimes as often as 
three times a day. Reported every move and 
change, the condition of my troops, etc. Not get- 
ting these, General Halleck very justly became dis- 
satisfied, and was, as I have since learned, sending 
me daily reprimands. Not receiving them, they lost 
their sting. When one did reach me, not seeing 
the justice of it, I retorted, and asked to be relieved. 
Tliree telegrams passed in this way, each time end- 
ing by my recjucsting to be relieved. All is now 
understood, however, and I feel assured tliat Gen- 
eral Halleck is fully satisfied. In fact, he wrote me 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 335 

a letter saying that I could not be relieved, and 
otherwise quite complimentary. 

I will not tire you with a longer letter, but as- 
sure you again that you shall not be disappoiiited in 
me if it is in my power to prevent it. 

Camp near Corinth, Miss., A/ay 14, 1S62. 

The great number of attacks made upon me by 
the press of the country is my apology for not writ- 
ing to you oftener, not desiring to give any contra- 
diction to them myself. You have interested your- 
self so much as my friend that should I say any- 
thing it would probably be made use of in my 
behalf. I would scorn being my own defender against 
such attacks except through the record which has 
been kept of all my ofificial acts, and which can be 
examined at Washington at any time. To say that 
I have not been distressed at these attacks upon 
me would be false, for I have a father, mother, wife, 
and children who read them, and are distressed by 
them, and I necessarily share with them in it. Then, 
too. all subject to my orders read these charges, and 
it is calculated to weaken their confidence in me 
and weaken my ability to render efficient service 
in our present cause. One thing I will assure you 
of, however — I can not be driven from rendering 
the best service within my ability to suppress the 
present rebellion, and, when it is over, retiring to 
the same quiet it, the rebellion, found me enjoying. 
Notoriety has no charms for me, and could I ren- 
der the same services that I hope it has been my 
fortune to render our just cause without being 
known in the matter, it would be infinitely prefer- 
able to me. 

Those people who expect a field of battle to be 
maintained for a whole day with about thirty thou- 
sand troops, most of them entirely raw, against fifty 
thousand, as was the case at Pittsburg Landing 
while waiting for re-enforcements to come up, with- 



336 



GENERAL GRANT. 



out loss of life, know little of war. To have left the 
field of Pittsburg for the enemy to occupy until 
our force was sufficient to have gained a bloodless 
victory would have been to leave the Tennessee 
to become a second Potomac. There was nothing 
left for me but to occupy the west bank of the Ten- 
nessee and to hold it at all hazards. It would have 
set this war back six months to have failed, and 
would have caused the necessity of raising, as it 
were, a new army. 

Looking back at the past, I can not see for the 
life of me any important point that could be cor- 
rected. Many persons who have visited the diiifer- 
ent fields of battle may have gone away displeased 
because they were not permitted to carry ofi horses, 
fine arms, or other valuables as trophies. But they 
are no patriots who would base their enmity on 
such grounds. Such, I assure you, are the grounds 
of many bitter words that have been said against 
me by persons who at this day would not know 
me by sight, yet profess to speak from a personal 
acquaintance. 

I am sorry to write such a letter, infinitely sorry 
that there should be grounds for it. My own justi- 
fication does not demand it, but you are entitled 
to know my feelings. As a friend I would be 
pleased to give you a record weekly at furthest of 
all that transpires in that portion of the army that 
I am or may be connected with, but not to make 
public use of. . . . 

Camp near Corinth, Miss., June /, 1862. 
Inclosed I send a letter addressed to the Hon. 
E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, which I would be 
pleased if you would cause to be delivered with any 
recommendation that you may deem proper. Lieu- 
tenant Dickey is the son of Colonel Dickey of the 
Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and brother-in-law of the 
late General W. H. L. Wallace, who fell at the battle 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 337 

of Shiloh. Although Lieutenant Dickey has served 
under my command ahnost from his first entrance 
into service, I can not answer from personal knowl- 
edge as to his qualifications; but General Judah, 
who recommends him, is an experienced officer, 
and fully qualified to judge of his merits. 

The siege of Corinth has at last terminated. On 
Friday morning it was found that the last rebel had 
left during the preceding night. On entering the 
enemy's intrenchments, it was discovered that they 
had succeeded in taking ofif or destroying nearly 
everything of value. General Pope is now in full 
pursuit of the retreating foe, and I think will suc- 
ceed in capturing and dispersing many of them. 
There will be much unjust criticism of this affair, 
but future effects will prove it a great victory. Not 
being in command, however, I will not give a his- 
tory of the battle in advance of official reports. 

I leave here in a day or two for Covington, Ky., 
on a short leave of absence. I may write you again 
from there if I do not visit Washington in person. 

Corinth, Miss., June ig, 1862. 
Your letter of the 8th inst., addressed to me at 
Covington, Ky., has just reached. At the time the 
one was written to which it is an answer I had leave 
to go home or to Covington, but General Halleck 
requested me to remain for a few days. Afterward 
when I spoke of going he asked that I should re- 
main a little longer if my business was not of press- 
ing importance. As I really had no business, and 
had not asked leave on such grounds, I told him 
so, and that if my services were required I would 
not go at all. This settled my leave for the present, 
and for the war, so long as my services are required 
I do not wish to leave. I am exceedingly obliged 
to you for the interest you have taken in the ap- 
pointment recommended by me, and also for the 
assurances that the Secretarv of War receives them 



338 GENERAL GRANT. 

with such favor. I will endeavor never to make 
a recommendation unsafe to accede to. 

I shall leave here on the 21st for Memphis, 
where my headquarters will be located for the time 
being. Fast western Tennessee is being reduced 
to working order, and I think, with the introduction 
of the mails, trade, and the assurance that we can 
hold it, it will become loyal or, at least, law-abiding. 
It will not do, however, for our arms to meet with 
any great reverse and still expect this result. The 
masses this day are more disloyal in the South from 
fear of what might befall them in case of defeat to 
the Union cause than from any dislike to the Gov- 
ernment. One week to them (after giving in their 
adhesion to our laws) would be worse under the so- 
called Confederate Government than a year of mar- 
tial law administered by this army. It is hard 
to say what would be the most wise policy to pur- 
sue toward these people, but for a soldier his duties 
are plain. He is to obey the orders of all those 
placed over him, and whip the enemy wherever he 
meets him. " If he can " should only be thought of 
after an unavoidable defeat. If you are acquainted 
with Senator Collamore, of Vermont, I would be 
pleased if you would say to him that there is a 
young colonel in the Eleventh Illinois Regiment, 
a native of his State, that I have taken a great in- 
terest in for his gallantry and worth. I mean Colo- 
nel Ransom.* He has now been wounded three 
times in separate engagements, but never showed 
a willingness to relinquish his command until the 
day was decided, and always declines a leave to 
recover from his wounds lest something should 
transpire in his absence. 

* Thomas E. G. Ransom (l834-'64), major Eleventh Illinois 
Infantry, July 30, 1861 ; colonel, February 15, 1S62 ; and briga- 
dier general, November 29, 1S62. He was among the most gal- 
lant of our volunteer officers. 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 



339 



La Grange, Tenn., N^ov. 7, 1S62. 

.... You will see by the papers that I am on 
the move. If troops are furnished me to keep open 
my lines of conmiunication, there will be no delays 
in this department. Once at Grenada I can draw 
supplies from Memphis, and save our present very 
long line. 

I do not see my report of the battle of luka in 
print. As the papers in General Rosecrans's inter- 
est have so much misrepresented that affair, I would 
like to see it in print. I have no objection to that 
or any other general being made a hero of by the 
press, but I do not want to see it at the expense of 
a meritorious portion of the army. I endeavored 
in that report to give a plain statement of facts, 
some of which I would never have mentioned had 
it not become necessary in defense of troops who 
have been with me in all, or nearly all, the battles 
where I have had the honor to command. I have 
never had a single regiment disgrace itself in battle 
yet. except some new ones at Shiloh that never 
loaded a musket before that battle. . . . 

Voting's Point, Miss , Mai-ch 10, i86j. 
Now that Congress has adjourned, I have 
thought possible you might want to make a visit to 
this part of the country. I need not assure you 
that I would be most glad to see you here and have 
you stay during the contest, which will take place 
in the next thirty days from this writing. You will 
have time to join me if mails are prompt. The 
canal through Avould have been a success by to-day 
but for the great rise of water. The river is now 
several feet above the whole country hereabout, 
and our canal w^as dependent for its success upon 
keeping the water out of it. The upper dam has 
broken and submerged things generally. To stop 
this ofY will take a number of days, but we will do 
it. In the meantime, so far as I now know and 



340 



GENERAL GRANT. 



have ofificial reports, the Yazoo Pass expedition 
is going to prove a perfect success. This is highly 
important if for no other purpose than to destroy 
the transportation and embryo gunboats the enemy 
had there. They have been working for one year on 
one boat of gigantic proportions up that stream. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, a young man of 
great merit, who has been put on General Hunter's 
staff, but who was on mine as a lieutenant, and I 
objected to relieving until the present campaign 
is over, writes to Rawlins in a private letter that 
our success in getting into Yazoo Pass is due to 
the energy of C. C. Washburn. He felt an interest 
in the enterprise and took hold with a will, and with 
men worthy of the object to be accomplished. I 
have ordered the army corps of McPherson through 
that way with additional forces, making him effect- 
ive men to the number of about twenty-eight thou- 
sand. McPherson is one of my best men, and is 
fully to be trusted. Sherman stands in the same 
category. In these two men I have a host. They 
are worth more than a full brigade each. McPher- 
son will effect a lodgment on the high lands on the 
Yazoo River east bank, and will co-operate with the 
troops from here. The class of transports adapted 
to the pass being so limited, some delay will neces- 
sarily take place in getting them to their destina- 
tion. I have sent up the river for all the small class 
of boats that can be got. 

We are going through a campaign here such as 
has not been heard of on this continent before. The 
soldiers see the position of the enemy in front of 
them, but I presume do not see how they are to 
attack. Their camp ground is several feet below 
water, held in its place by the levees. Constant 
rains falling keep the roads almost impassable. 
With all this the men are in good spirits, and feel 
confident of ultimate success. 

The health of this command is a subject that 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 



341 



has been very much exaggerated by the press. I 
will venture the assertion that there is no army 
now in the field showing so large a proportion of 
those present with their commands being for duty. 
Really our troops are more healthy than could pos- 
sibly have been expected with all their trials. Al- 
though I have told you but little of plans here, it 
is more than I am in the habit of writing on this 
subject. You will excuse me, therefore, from say- 
ing how I expect to co-operate with McPherson, 
at least until you come down. General Washburn 
will have command of a very important cavalry ex- 
pedition from the Yazoo River if all other plans 
succeed. . . . 

ViCKSBURG, Miss., Aitg. jo, i86j. 
Your letter of the 8th of August, inclosing one 
from Senator Wilson to you, reached here during 
my temporary absence to the northern part of my 
command; hence my apparent delay in answering. 
I fully appreciate all Senator Wilson says. Had 
it not been for General Halleck and Dana, I think 
it altogether likely I would have been ordered to 
the Potomac. My going could do no possible good. 
They have there able officers who have been 
brought up with that army, and to import a com- 
mander to place over them certainly could produce 
no good. While I would not positively disobey an 
order, I would have objected most vehemently to 
taking that command or any other, except the one 
I have. I can do more with this army than it would 
be possible for me to do with any other without 
time to make the same acquaintance with others 
I have with this. I know that the soldiers of the 
Army of the Tennessee can be relied on to the full- 
est extent. I believe I know the exact capacity of 
every general in my command to lead troops, and 
just where to place them to get from them their 
best services. This is a matter of no small impor- 
tance. ... 



342 



GENERAL GRANT. 



The people of the North need not quarrel over 
the institution of slavery. What Vice-President 
Stevens acknowledges the corner stone of the Con- 
federacy is already knocked out. Slavery is already 
dead, and can not be resurrected. It would take 
a standing army to maintain slavery in the South 
if we were to make peace to-day, guaranteeing to 
the South all their former constitutional privileges. 
I never was an abolitionist, not even what could 
be called antislavery, but I try to judge fairly and 
honestly, and it became patent to my mind early 
in the rebellion that the North and South could 
never live at peace with each other except as one 
nation, and that without slavery. As anxious as I 
am to see peace re-established, I would not, there- 
fore, be willing to see any settlement until this ques- 
tion is forever settled.* 

Rawlins and Maltby have been appointed briga- 
dier generals. These are richly deserved promo- 
tions. Rawlins especially is no ordinary man. The 
fact is, had he started in this war in the line instead 
of in the stafif, there is every probability he would 
be to-day one of our shining lights. As it is, he is 
better and more favorably known than probably 
any other officer in the army who has filled only 
stafif appointments. Some men, too many of them, 
are only made by their stafif appointments, while 
others give respectability to the position. Rawlins 
is of the latter class. . . . 

Chattanooga, Tf.nn., Dec. 2, i86j. 

.... For the last three weeks I have not only 

been busy, but have had company occupying my 

room, making it almost impossible for me to write 

anything. Last week was a stirring time with us, 

* Jasper A. Maltby (i826-'67), lieutenant colonel Forty-fifth 
Illinois Infantry, August, i86l ; colonel, November 29, 1862 ; 
and brigadier general, August 4, 1863. 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH A P^RIEND. 343 

and a magnificent victory was won. I am sorry you 
could not be here. The spectacle was grand beyond 
anything that has been or is hkely to be on this 
continent. It is the first battlefield I have ever seen 
where a plan could be followed and from one place 
the whole field be within one view. At the com- 
mencement the battle line was fifteen miles long. 
Hooker on our right soon carried the point of 
Lookout Mountain, and Sherman the north end of 
Missionary Ridge, thus shortening the line by five 
or six miles and bringing the whole within one 
view. Our troops behaved most magnificently, and 
have inflicted on the enemy the heaviest blow they 
have received during the war. . . , 

Chattanooga, Tenn., Dec. 12, i86j. 
All is well with me. Everything looks bright 
and favorable in this command. I feel under many 
obligations to you for the interest you have taken 
in my welfare. But recollect that I have been high- 
ly honored already by the Government, and do not 
ask or feel that I deserve anything more in the shape 
of honors or promotions. A success over the enemy 
is what I crave above everything else, and desire to 
hold such an influence over those under my com- 
mand as to enable me to use them to the best ad- 
vantage to secure this end. 

Cold Harbor, Va., Jtme 9, 1864 
Your two letters inclosing orders published by 
Major-General Washburn have been received. I 
highly approve the course he is taking, and am glad 
to see that General Slocum is pursuing a similar 
course about Vicksburg. I directed some days ago 
that the Sixteenth Corps staflf should report to your 
brother. I recommend, however, that no command- 
er be named for the Sixteenth Corps until Sher- 
man is heard from, to know whether he would not 
prefer the consolidation of that portion of the Six- 
23 



344 



GENERAL GRANT, 



teenth and Seventeenth Corps in the field into one 
corps, and that serving in garrison from these two 
corps into another. It makes but little difference, 
however, about this, for as soon as this campaign 
is over it is probable there will be a reconstruction 
of departments and commands. 

.... Everything is progressing favorably but 
slowly. All the fight, except defensive and behind 
breastworks, is taken out of Lee's army. Unless 
my next move brings on a battle, the balance of 
the campaign will settle down to a siege. . . . 

City Point, Va., July 2j, 1S64. 
Your letter of the 17th, inclosing one from Gen- 
eral Scott, is just received. I inclose to you my 
answer to the general, which please forward to him. 
All are well here and buoyant and full of hope. I 
wish people North could be as hopeful as our troops 
who have to do the fighting are. I can not write 
you what I expect to do here. That Maryland raid 
upset my plans, but I will make an attempt to do 
something before many days. . . . 

City Point, Va., Aug. 16, 1S64. 

Your letter asking for autographs to send to 
Mrs. Adams, the wife of our ^Minister to England, 
was duly received. She had also sent to Air. Dana 
for the same thing, and his requisition, he being 
with me at the time, was at once filled. I have di- 
rected Colonel Bowers to send with this a few of 
the original dispatches telegraphed from here. They 
have all been hastily written, and not with the ex- 
pectation of ever being seen afterward, but will, I 
suppose, answer as well as anything else, or as if 
they had been written especially for the purpose of 
sending. . . . 

I state to all citizens who visit me that all 
we want now to insure an early restoration of the 
Union is a determined unitv of sentiment North. 



f 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 345 

The rebels have now in their ranks their last men. 
The little boys and old men are guarding prisoners, 
railroad bridges, and forming a good part of their 
garrisons for intrenched positions. A man lost by 
them can not be replaced. They have robbed the 
cradle and the grave equally to get their present 
force. Besides what they lose in frequent skirmishes 
and battles, they are now losing from desertions 
and other causes at least one regiment per day. 
With this drain upon them the end is visible if we 
will but be true to ourselves. Their only hope now 
is in a divided North. This might give them re- 
enforcements from Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, 
and Missouri, while it would weaken us. With the 
draft quietly enforced, the enemy would become 
despondent, and would make but little resistance. 

I have no doubt but the enemy are exceedingly 
anxious to hold out until after the presidential elec- 
tion. They have many hopes from its effects. They 
hope for a counter-revolution. They hope for the 
election of the peace candidate. In fact, like Micaw- 
ber, they hope that something will turn up. Our 
peacCj^iriends, if they expect peace from separation, 
are much mistaken. It would be but the beginning 
of war, with thousands of Northern men joining the 
South because of our disgrace allowing separation. 
To have peace " on any terms " the South would 
demand the restoration of their slaves already freed. 
They would demand indemnity for losses sustained, 
and they would demand a treaty which would make 
the North slave-hunters for the South. They would 
demand pay or the restoration of every slave escap- 
ing to the North. 

City Point, Va., Dec. 3j, 1S64. 

.... I see some objections are raised to 
Meade's confirmation as major general in the regu- 
lar army. What the objections are I do not know, 
and can not therefore address myself to them. T 
am verv sorrv this should be so. General Meade is 



4 



346 GENERAL GRANT. 

one of our truest men and ablest officers. He has 
been constantly with that army, confronting the 
strongest, best-appointed, and most confident army 
in the South. He therefore has not had the same 
opportunity of winning laurels so distinctively 
marked as have fallen to the lot of other generals. 
But I defy any one to name a commander who 
could do more than he has done with the same 
chances. I am satisfied with a full knowledge of 
the man, what he has done, and the circumstances 
attending all his military acts, all objections would 
be removed. I wrote a letter to Senator Wilson 
to-day in his behalf which I hope will have some 
weight. If you can put in a word with some of the 
other Senators, particularly those who oppose his 
confirmation, and are willing to do it, I will feel 
much obliged. 

City Point, \A.,Jan. 24, 186^. 

Your letter announcing the completion of the 
medal * was duly received, and not answered be- 
cause I expected to be in Washington about as 
early as a letter would get there. I did go, but not 
as early by a day or two as I expected, and then 
was in such haste that I saw no one out of the War 
and my own of^ce. I can hardly say when I will 
be up again. Not for a week or two probably. I 
do not want the medal here, where there would be 
such danger of losing it. You can therefore keep 
it where you deem best until I am ready to take 
charge of it. . . . 

We have had quite an exciting time here since 
3 A. yi. to-day. The heavy freshet we have been 
having the last few days has washed away some 
of our obstructions in the James. About that hour 
four of the enemy's gunboats started down the 

* Presented to General Grant by Conj^ress for the capture of 
Vicksburg and opening the Mississippi River from Cairo to the 
Gulf of Mexico. 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 347 

river, and one or two of them actually passed the 
obstructions. Providence seemed to be on our 
side. Our navy certainly was not. Notwithstand- 
ing several days' notice had been given, not a single 
preparation seemed to have been made to receive 
such a visit. Fortunately, however, two of the ene- 
my's boats grounded near the Howlett House, and 
those that had passed dow-n turned back. Two of 
the enemy's boats were sunk and one disabled. The 
two aground were well pummeled for several hours, 
and must both of them been injured, though the 
report I get is: Two sunk, one disabled. This was 
all done from land batteries. The naval force left 
here is not adequate to the work with the obstruc- 
tions removed. I hope, however, to have all right. 
We have all been very busy since tlie 3d, and will 
have all right before there is any let up. 

Washington, May 21, iS6s. 

I have just received your letter of the i8th. It 
has never been my intention to give up Illinois as 
my home. The house in Philadelphia was presented 
to me, I believe, entirely by the Union League of 
that city. I was not aware the project was on the 
wav until the money for the purchase was mostly 
subscribed, and then I did not know the parties 
interesting themselves in the matter. I had selected 
Philadelphia as a place for my family, where the 
children could have good schools and be near, so 
that I might see them whenever I had a leisure day. 

It would look egotistical to make a parade in 
the papers about where I intend to claim as my 
home, but I will endeavor to be in Galena at the 
next election and vote there, and declare my inten- 
tion of claiming that as my home and intention of 
never casting a vote elsewhere without first giving 
notice. 

I feel very grateful to the citizens of Illinois 
generally, and to those of Jo Daviess County and 



348 



GENERAL GRANT. 



yourself in particular, for the uniform support I 
have received from that quarter. Without that sup- 
port it would now matter but little where I might 
claim a residence. I might write a letter to Mr. 
Stuart,* chairman of the Christian Commission, and 
the most active member of the Union League of 
Philadelphia, in getting up the subscription for my 
house, stating what I owe to the State of Illinois, and 
that he and his friends must not think hard of me 
for holding on to Galena as my home. 

I will hear from you again before doing any- 
thing in this matter. At present I am keeping 
house in Georgetown, and have my family with me. 
Neither they nor I will be in Philadelphia again, 
unless it be for a few days before fall. 

Galena, III., Sept. 2j, iS6S. 

I am glad to see Congress found it expedient 
to adjourn without further legislation. I feared the 
effect of legislation at this time, and then, too, if 
Congress had remained in session it would prevent 
A. J. from taking his proposed trip to East Tennes- 
see. I have as much affection for him as Frank 
Blair had for the " Fennigans," and would go just 
as far as Frank was willing to go to see him off, 
and would hold out every inducement to have him 
remain. 

My time passes very pleasantly and cjuietly here, 
and I have determined to remain until some time 
after the October elections. I will aim to be in 
Washington a few, but a few, days before the No- 
vember election. There is nothing particularly stir- 
ring going on here. A person would not know 
there was a canvass going on if it were not for the 
accounts we read in the papers of great gatherings 
all over the country. 

* George Hay Stuart (i8i6-'9o), an opulent merchant and 
philanthropist, of Philadelphia, who was twice oflfcred a position 
in General Grant's Cabinet. 



CORRESPONDENXE WITH A FRIEND. 349 

Please remember me to Mr. A. T. Stewart, Air. 
Tyloses H. Grinnell, and Mr. William E. Dodge, who 
all have taken great interest in my welfare, even 
before they knew me personally. The same might 
be said of hosts of other New Yorkers, but the 
names of all can not be enmnerated in a single 
letter. 

Washington, D. C, March 11, iS6g. 

Your resignation of the office of Secretary of 
State, with reasons for the same, is received. In ac- 
cepting it I do so with regret that your health will 
not permit you to continue in the ofifice or in some 
Cabmet position.* Our personal relations have 
been, from the breaking out of the rebellion to the 
present day, and your support of me individually 
and of the army and its cause, such that no other 
idea presented itself stronger to my mind, in the 
first news of my election to the presidency, than 
that I should continue to have your advice and 
assistance. In parting with you, therefore, I do it 
with assurances of continued confidence in your 
ability, zeal, and friendship, and with the hope that 
you may soon be relieved from the physical dis- 
abilities under which you have labored for the last 
few years. 

* Mr. Washburne was soon after appointed by General Grant 
American representative to France, and in 1887 he published a 
valuable and interesting work in two volumes, entitled Recollec- 
tions of a Minister to France, 1869-1877. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 

In choosing a home, General Grant, after due 
deliberation, decided on the city of New York as 
the most desirable. Many of his old friends were 
residents of the metropolis, and two of his sons had 
entered into business there. Moreover, New York 
was the great center of events, and to one so widely 
known and so broad of view as General Grant, of- 
fered superior attractions, as it did to his friends 
Admiral Farragut and General Sherman. His 
home was a pleasant mansion — No. 3 Sixty-sixth 
Street, just east of Fifth Avenue, and near the Cen- 
tral Park. For his summer residence he selected a 
handsome cottage on the New Jersey coast, between 
Long Branch and Elberon, and within a convenient 
distance of the city. 

Scarcely had he made these arrangements when 
the National Republican Convention of 1880 was 
held at Chicago. For President there were several 
candidates, the most prominent being General 
Grant and Senators Blaine, Edmunds, and Sherman. 
Grant was urged by Conkling and other friends to 
consent to being a candidate for a third term, with the 
350 



HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 351 

hope, if elected, of carrying' out certain reforms and 
projects upon which he had set his heart. Greatest 
among these was Grant's desire to reconcile the 
North and South, which he believed he could soon 
accomplish, and that the solid South would speed- 
ily become a thing of the past. His decision many 
of the general's admirers deemed unfortunate. Un- 
wise the student of his career must admit, for there 
is an unwritten law against any President filling a 
third term. It has never occurred in the history 
of the republic. It was said in the convention by 
an eminent speaker: " Grant can afford to regard 
the presidency as a broken toy. It would add noth- 
ing to his fame if he were again elected, and would 
add nothing to the debt of gratitude which the peo- 
ple feel they owe him. He is regarded universally 
as the hero of the war, and I think it was really his 
genius that almost gave us the victory. I do not 
think his reputation can ever be as great in any 
direction as in the direction of war. He has made 
his reputation, and has lived his great life." After 
a bitter contest, James A. Garfield, of Ohio, an able 
statesman and successful soldier, was nominated as 
a compromise candidate, with Chester A. Arthur, 
of New York, for Vice-President. 

The closing years of General Grant's life were 
embittered, and his reputation for a time clouded by 
the failure of the firm of Grant and Ward, in which 
he with one of his sons was a partner. By this en- 
tirely unexpected event he was financially ruined. 
According to the general's testimony in the Fish 
trial, given in his sick room in March, 1885, it was 
clearly shown that he was entirely ignorant of the 



352 



GENERAL GRANT. 



peculiar transactions of Fish and Ward in the Ma- 
rine Bank and in the firm of Grant and Ward. 
It was owing to these financial difficulties that 
the general's incomparable Memoirs were written. 
He had, years before General Sherman's work ap- 
peared, decided to prepare his Military Memoirs, 
but his project was not executed, or even entered 
upon, until after his financial difficulties occurred. 
Then he began in earnest arranging the large 
amount of material which he had collected, and in 
preparing the four magazine articles, of which the 
first appeared in February, 1885. 

In Congress, in 1884, the proposition to bestow 
a pension on General Grant was introduced, but 
this he firmly refused. He did, however, desire 
to be placed on the retired list, an honor befitting 
a soldier, and this desire, in 1885, Congress granted, 
the general even then being in the grasp of his 
fatal illness. The bill was signed by President 
Arthur a few minutes before his term of office ex- 
pired, and the position accepted by General Grant 
by telegraph the same day. 

Early in the summer of 1884 the general began 
to feel a slight pain in his mouth and throat, 
which increased and developed into cancer of the 
tongue — a painful and incurable disease. As he 
gradually grew weaker, the whole nation watched 
with solicitude the progress of his malady, and 
prayers were offered in many pulpits in the land for 
his recovery; day after day expressions of sympa- 
thy came not only from all quarters of our own 
country, but from distant lands. Old strifes and en- 
mities were all forgotten in the presence of ap- 



HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 353 

proaching death, and the Bhie and the Gray ahke 
uttered the warmest expressions of sympathy for 
the dying soldier. Early in the month of April 
there was a marked improvement in General Grant's 
condition, and, among some of his more sanguine 
friends, hopes were entertained and expressed of 
his ultimate recovery. Through the length and 
breadth of the land the morning and evening jour- 
nals contained daily bulletins of one or more col- 
umns concerning the condition of the illustrious pa- 
tient, and many of the leading papers of Great Brit- 
ain and other lands published daily telegrams. 

The writer called with a little birthday gift on 
Monday, April 27th, and spent half an hour or 
more with General Grant, who met him at the door 
of his library, and invited him to accompany him 
into his chamber, where they sat down in front of 
the fireplace, with Harrison, his faithful colored 
servant, seated out of sight, behind them. The gen- 
eral walked with the aid of a cane, and wore a small 
cap. His looks conveyed but little idea of his sick- 
ness and suffering, and he still weighed over one 
hundred and forty pounds. "What was your weight 
when in perfect health? " asked the writer, " Before 
my fall, from one hundred and ninety to one hun- 
dred and ninety-five pounds," the general replied; 
" and so I have lost from forty to fifty pounds. 
No," he continued, " I do not think I weighed more 
than one hundred and fifty pounds during the war. 
. . . Yes, I have met with several accidents," said 
the ex-President. '' You remember I hurt my ankle 
and foot at Shiloh; then I was thrown from my 
horse near New Orleans in September, 1863, when 



354 



GENERAL GRANT. 



you were with me, and finally met with the fall from 
which I am still suffering; " adding, " Aly throat 
hurts me if I speak too much, so you must do some 
of the talking. . . . No, I have not worked on my 
book for a long time. I doubt whether I shall be 
able to go on with it again." And later he remarked: 
" The first volume is complete and in the hands of 
the printer, and I am at present receiving and read- 
ing the proofs. The second volume is also sub- 
stantially finished. Much of it was dictated to a 
stenographer, as I found it fatigued me to write." 

The writer was at General Grant's for an hour 
Monday afternoon, June 8th. While conversing 
with the family, his physician, Dr. Douglas, passed 
out, and soon after, to our surprise, the general 
came in, leaning heavily on his cane. He looked 
thinner and more haggard than when last seen, 
his voice being very husky and indistinct. He 
remarked that he had not been out for nearly a 
fortnight, and that he was afraid of taking cold. 
Indeed, he was then suffering much pain and dis- 
comfort owing to a cold. During his closing days 
his grandchildren gave him much pleasure, but his 
mind was absorbed with the one subject of his mili- 
tary autobiography and a desire to be accurate in 
the most minute particulars, and, above all, to ren- 
der strict and impartial justice to every man who 
served under him. In all matters aside from his 
book Grant took but a slight and passing interest. 

Fortunately his prayer was answered that he 
might be permitted to live to complete his Military 
Memoirs, which were substantially finished. It may 
be doubted if since the world began anv book has 



HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 355 

been written under similar conditions. It far sur- 
passes Sir Walter Scott's gallant efforts to main- 
tain the integrity of his character, that he might be- 
ciueath an untarnished name and a fantastic man- 
sion to a long line of Scotts of Abbotsford. Seeing 
the last enemy approach, the dying but undaunted 
soldier, suffering almost constant, and at times the 
severest agony, determined to " fight it out " bravely 
as he did when he faced General Lee in the Wilder- 
ness struggle. This Grant did, to the general as- 
tonishment of publishers, physicians, family, and 
friends, the fruit of this great effort being a for- 
tune for his family. It was probably the most suc- 
cessful expensive book ever issued — more than a 
quarter of million copies having been ordered in 
advance of publication, and nearly half a million 
of dollars having been received as copyright. In 
clearness and accuracy of statement, in literary 
style and finish, it compares favorably with the 
models of English literature. 

The general, contrary to the expectations of his 
physicians and friends, survived to see the twenti- 
eth anniversary of the surrender of Lee's army, and 
to exchange greetings with his family on the re- 
turn of the anniversary which may be said to have 
substantially broken the Confederacy and closed 
the four years' civil conflict. He survived to see 
the sun rise on the twenty-fourth anniversary of the 
surrender of Fort Sumter and the commencement of 
the war, living also to see the anniversary of the 
death of President Lincoln, which, as has been else- 
where stated in this memoir. General Grant deemed 
the darkest dav of his life. After more than a month's 



-,-5 GENERAL GRANT. 

confinement to his house, he recovered sufficiently 
to drive out in the park again on INIonday, April 
20th, and on the following day he was seen walking 
in Sixty-sixth Street with one of his sons. About 
this time he was able to resume his literary work 
by dictating to a secretary. He survived, as we 
have said, to celebrate his sixty-third birthday, and 
to complete substantially his military autobiogra- 
phy, by far the most valuable contribution yet made 
to the literature of the war. Owing to his increas- 
ing weakness and the warm weather, the date of his 
departure was anticipated by a week, and on June 
i6th, accompanied by his family, his physician, and 
attendants, he proceeded in a private car to IMount 
McGregor, near Saratoga, wdiere a comfortable cot- 
tage was placed at the general's disposal for the 
summer by his friend, Joseph W. Drexel, of New 
York, by whom it was presented after Grant's death 
to the Grand Army of the Republic of New York. 
From his mountain home on a spur of the 
Adirondacks General Grant could see at a glance 
the great theater of the many brilliant movements 
of Burgoyne's campaign — his marches, his defeats, 
and his surrender — and the stately monument which 
commemorates the historic field of the grounded 
arms. — a spot consecrated by the genius of Fitz 
Greene Halleck, the last stanza of which for some 
unknown reason he suppressed. The omitted lines 
are as follows: 

Feelings as proud as were the Greek's of old, 
When in his country's hour of fame he stood, 

Happy and bold and free, 

Gazing on Marathon. 



I 



HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 



357 



A few days before his departure from the city, 
when in a cheerful mood, the general said to a 
friend: " It is a great consolation to me in my sick- 
ness to know that the people, both North and South, 
are seemingly equally kind in their expressions of 
sympathy. Scores of letters come to me daily, 
without reference to politics or locality, containing 
kind words. Many communications are also re- 
ceived from public bodies. But nothing has touched 
me more deeply than the daily spectacle of the 
crowds of people gathering about my door for 
months, and eagerly seeking information as to my 
condition. Yes, I can certainly say that I tried to 
do my duty to my country, and I hope I have al- 
ways treated those who were not on the same side 
with me, both in the field and in politics, with jus- 
tice. The men of the South I always looked upon 
as citizens of our common country, and when it 
was in my power I always treated them as such. 
I can say with truth that I never, even in the midst 
of duty, had any other feeling than that which one 
citizen should feel toward another." The general 
also referred with much feeling to the many kind 
schemes projected in his behalf by friends in Cali- 
fornia and in other portions of the country. 

The ex-President's prayer that the end would 
come soon was granted, but not before the wish 
nearest to his heart was gratified — that he should 
live to finish his book. After many temporary rallies 
and improvements and much physical suffering, 
borne in the spirit of Paul's grand text — " Endure 
hardness as a soldier " — surrounded by all those 
who were near and dear to him, the illustrious com- 



358 



GENERAL GRANT. 



mancler passed away peacefully at eight minutes 
past eight on Thursday morning, July 23, 1885. 

" Of course I am sorry to leave my family and 
friends; but I shall be glad to go," said the general 
some months before his death; and a few days later 
he remarked : " Yes, I have many friends here, and 
I have also many friends on the other side of the 
river who have crossed before me," adding, after a 
brief pause, " It is my wish that they may not have 
long to wait for me, but that the end will come 
soon." To another friend he said, when feeling 
better on Wednesday, April 15th, " Thrice have I 
been in the shadow of the valley of death, and 
thrice have I come out again ; " and to a gentleman 
who on his last birthday quoted a few lines from 
Washington Irving, the sick soldier said, " How 
beautiful and how true ! " The dying soldier's last 
written words were: 

" / hope no one zvill feci distressed on my ac- 
count " — 

penciled but a few hours before his heroic spirit, 
" with touch as gentle as the morning light," was 
called away. 

More than royal honors may be said to have 
been paid to his memory by the messages of con- 
dolence which came to Mrs. Grant from crowned 
heads and from distinguished personages of various 
countries and climes. It was the absorbing topic 
with the press and people of the United States dur- 
ing the period that elapsed between the time of 
the illustrious soldier's death and burial. Both at 
home and abroad he was universally recognized as 
the First Soldier and the First Citizen of the New 



HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 359 

World. Against this compact consensus of opin- 
ion there was no discordant voice, even among 
the people against whom he wielded his mighty- 
sword. The men of the South had only words of 
praise for their generous conqueror — praise as un- 
stinted as that of Argyll, Bright, and Gladstone, 
and of his political adversaries of our own land. 
President Cleveland at once issued a proclamation 
eulogizing the dead hero, and ordering the Execu- 
tive Mansion and the departments at Washington 
to be draped in black for thirty days as a mark of 
respect, and that all public business should be sus- 
pended on the day of the funeral. The army and 
navy were also ordered to recognize the event by 
displaying the national flag at half mast and by the 
firing of cannon and wearing of crape. The Gov- 
ernor of New York issued a proclamation directing 
that the public buildings of the State be draped in 
mourning, and that the flags be hung at half mast. 
Six days later a second proclamation was issued, 
setting apart Saturday, the day of the funeral, for 
such religious observance as might be appropriate 
for the burial of the distinguished dead. 

Before his death General Grant expressed in 
writing a wish that he should be buried in one of 
three places — at West Point, where he received his 
education, in Illinois, where he resided for several 
years, or in New York, " because the people of that 
city befriended me in my need." New York, through 
its mayor, having proffered to Mrs. Grant a burial 
place in any of the city parks, a spot was selected 
and accepted in Riverside Park with the single con- 
dition that, in accordance with the general's de- 
24 



36o 



GENERAL GRANT. 



sire, his wife should hereafter be laid by his side. 
His preference would have been for West Point had 
he not been under the mistaken impression that 
Mrs. Grant could not be buried there. 

A few days after the hero's death a large and 
influential committee, with ex-President Arthur as 
chairman, was appointed by the Mayor of New 
York to receive and collect funds for the erection 
of a national monument over General Grant's grave. 
Within a week of the inauguration of the move- 
ment, and before his burial, a sum of thirty thou- 
sand dollars was received by voluntary contribu- 
tions. It was afterward increased to six hundred 
thousand dollars. Movements for other monuments 
throughout the country have been inaugurated, and 
several cities of the North already possess statues 
of the great soldier. 

On Tuesday, August 4, a memorial service was 
held at Mount McGregor in the cottage where 
Grant died, and a funeral address was delivered. On 
the same day, and almost at the same hour, a similar 
service was held in Westminster Abbey, London. 
The exercises were very impressive, and the vast 
audience which crowded the ancient abbey gave evi- 
dence of sincere sorrow and reverence for the dead 
soldier. The present Dean of Canterbury deliv- 
ered an eloquent discourse, classing General Grant 
with Lincoln as a statesman, and Avith Washington 
and Wellington as a strategist. Among those pres- 
ent were representatives of the Queen and the 
Prince of Wales, the commander in chief of the 
British Army, Mr. Gladstone, and hundreds of the 
most eminent statesmen and soldiers of England. 



HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 361 

The remains of the ex-President arrived in Al- 
bany in the afternoon of the same day, and were 
received by the Governor. They were placed in 
the. State Capitol, where they were seen by large 
numbers of citizens and people who came from the 
surrounding country to take their farewell view of 
his well-known face. On Wednesday afternoon, 
the 5th, the body of the great soldier arrived in New 
York and was escorted by an imposing body of 
troops to the City Hall. For three days it lay in 
state, and was viewed by nearly a quarter of a mil- 
lion of persons, including a large number of old 
soldiers who had served under him. 

Saturday, August 8th, was the day appointed 
for his public funeral, the arrangements having been 
made by General Winfield S. Hancock. A more 
magnificent demonstration was never witnessed in 
the New World, attesting the nation's admiration 
and respect for the memory of the American sol- 
dier. It is supposed that at least a million and a 
half persons saw the procession. The streets of the 
city echoed to the tramp of thirty thousand soldiers 
and veterans who marched with measured tread 
to the solemn music of a hundred military bands. 
There were to be seen heroes of scores of battles, 
and the torn and tattered flags that waved over 
Shiloh, Mcksburg, the Wilderness, and other well- 
contested fields. Never but once before and once 
since in the history of New York have so large a 
number of armed men marched through its streets.* 

* November 15, 1814, when the Iron Grays led a cohimn of 
28,000 troops from Fourteenth Street to the Battery. The vet- 
erans of the G. A. R. who were in the procession were unarmed. 



362 



GENERAL GRANT. 



It has been asserted with much plausibility that 
no man in history has been looked upon by as many 
eyes as General Grant — from the field, where he 
commanded more than a million of men, to the 
presidential chair for two terms, and then through 
a " royal progress " around the world, during 
which it has been estimated that he was seen by 
between six and seven million of people. It may 
be reasonably doubted if any illustrious man, and 
certainly no American except Lincoln, has been 
looked upon in death by so many sorrowing people 
as gazed upon Grant. And it may with reasonable 
certainty be believed that his tomb will for all time 
be a place of pilgrimage for his countrymen, and 
will be visited by larger numbers than the grave 
of any other great man, not excepting those of 
Napoleon and Nelson. Certainly, while his army 
comrades live, the spot that holds his earthly re- 
mains will be held sacred, and when they, with 
their " locks of gray," follow the now silent leader, 
their descendants will continue to cherish the hal- 
lowed ground, and on each returning Decoration 

The soldiers under arms numbered about 20,000. There were 
nearly 50,000 men in the cohimn that marched to Grant's tomb 
on April 27, 1S97, of whom about 30,000 were armed, and 10,000 
were veterans who had followed his victorious banners. Among 
the Grant Municipal Committee of Two Hundred, appointed by 
the mayor to make arrangements for the ceremonial, were Gen- 
erals Burnett, BulterHeld, Christenson, Day, Dodge, Greene, 
Hcrron, Ilubbinl, McCook, McMahon, Molineux, Porter, .Sharpe, 
Sickles, Sigel, Swayne, Webb, Wilson, and Wootlford. Of Grant's 
Military Academy associates, who accepted the committee's in- 
vitation to be i)rcsent, there were, among others, Gener.ils Buck- 
ncr, Franklin, French, Longstreet, Reynolds, and Schofield. 



I 



HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 363 

Day crown it with flowers, while they repeat the 
story of his marvelous career — a career more won- 
derful than that of almost any other heroic figure 
recorded in modern history. 

It was nearly six hours after the funeral cortege 
left the City Hall that the catafalque, drawn by 
twenty-four horses, reached the grave on the banks 
of the historic Hudson, and was placed in the tem- 
porary tomb with appropriate ceremonies, in the 
presence of his family, the President of the United 
States, his Cabinet, ex-Presidents Hayes and Ar- 
thur, his pall-bearers. Generals Sherman and Sheri- 
dan of the Union armies, and Generals Johnston 
and Buckner of the Confederate service, with many 
of the most eminent men of the country. So, on 
that bright and sunny August afternoon, he was 
laid to rest.* As Sir Walter Scott's Edinburgh 
monument is the finest yet reared anywhere to the 
memory of a man of letters, so it is believed that 
the tomb formally dedicated with imposing cere- 
monial on Tuesday, April 27, 1897, is the grandest 
yet erected in the wide world to a soldier, surpass- 
ing even that which stands on the banks of the 
Seine, raised to the memory of the hero of Marengo. 
The situation of the poet's or the Emperor's monu- 
ment can not for a moment be compared to the mag- 
nificent site of the American commander's tomb 
on the east bank of the beautiful Hudson. 

The cruel irony of fate was never perhaps dis- 
played in a more striking manner than in the clos- 

* General Grant's remains were privately removed from their 
temporary resting place to the monument, under the supervision 
of his two eldest sons, on Saturday afternoon, April 17th. 



3^4 



GENERAL GRANT. 



ing years of General Grant's career. What a start- 
ling revolution in the whirligig of time! Within 
the brief space of nineteen months was witnessed, 
as we have seen, the occurrence in front of his door 
of an accident which lamed him for life. Five 
months later, when he believed he was worth a mil- 
lion of dollars, the ex-President was suddenly finan- 
cially ruined. Eight months after this heavy stroke 
the old soldier was assailed with a malady which 
baffled all human skill, and within five months of 
the period when it was announced that he had a 
mortal disease, the end came, and 

He gave his honors to the world again, 

His blessed past to heaven, and slept in peace. 

There is little further to add to what has been 
already related in these pages. Not only did all 
English-speaking people the world over lament the 
untimely close of the illustrious soldier's career, and 
share his glorious memory, but many persons of 
other nationalities who knew him personally dur- 
ing his foreign travels, or who were familiar Avith 
his great deeds in behalf of human freedom and 
established government. 

From the many tributes to Grant's memory, 
and views of his lofty character and public services, 
we make room for several from contemporaries, 
who were fully competent to render correct and 
valuable judgments. When General Sherman was 
asked by the writer if he deemed Grant entitled to 
take rank next after Napoleon, Wellington, and 
Moltke as one of the four great soldiers of the nine- 
teenth century, he replied, under date of June 26, 



HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 365 

1885, " His rank will be very high in history, even 
higher than you place him." Lieutenant-General 
Sheridan, being requested to express his opinion of 
his former commander, said: "My judgment is 
that Grant was a far greater man than most people 
thought him to be. He was always able, no matter 
how situated, to do more than was expected of 
him. That has always been my opinion of General 
Grant, for whom I have the greatest admiration 
both as a man and as a commander." After relating 
the anecdote of Grant at the circus, given in the 
first chapter of this volume, Mr. Lincoln was asked 
who, in his opinion, was the greatest American 
general. He answered, " U. S. Grant." * 

* Early in April, 1864, Lincoln said to one of his secretaries, 
who a score of years later wrote his biography (New York, 1884), 
in answer to an inquiry as to his opinion of Grant : " ' I hardly 
know what to think of him. He is the quietest fellow you ever 
saw. Why, he makes the least fuss of any man I ever knew. I 
believe two or three times he has been in this room a minute or 
more before I knew that he was here. The only evidence that he 
is in any place is that he makes things go. Wherever he is they 
move.' 

'" How about Grant's generalship? Is he going to be the 
man?' 

" 'Stoddard, Grant is the first one I've had. He is a general.' 

" ' How is that ? ' inquired the somewhat puzzled secretary. 

"'Well, I'll tell you what I mean,' the President replied. 
" ' You know how it has been with all the rest. As soon as I put 
a man in command of the Army of the Potomac he would come 
to me with a plan of campaign, and about as much as say, " Now, 
I don't believe I can do it, but if you say so I'll try it," and so he 
would throw the responsibility of success or failure on me. They 
all wanted me to be the general. Now, it is not so with Grant. 
He has not told me what his plans are. I don't know, and I 
don't want to know. I am glad to find a man that can go ahead 



366 GENERAL GRANT. 

Within a few weeks of Grant's death a member 
of General Lee's staff said to a friend, who had 
mentioned Hancock's high opinion of his old chief: 
" That reminds me of Lee's opinion of your great 
Union general, uttered in my presence in reply to 
a disparaging remark on the part of a person who 
referred to Grant as a ' military accident, who had 
no distinguishing merit, but had achieved success 
through a combination of fortunate circumstances.' 
General Lee looked into the critic's eye steadily, 
and said : ' Sir, your opinion is a very poor com- 
pliment to me. We all thought Richmond, pro- 

without me. . . . You see, whenever any of the others set out 
on a campaign they would look over matters, and pick out 
some one thing they were short of, and which they knew I could 
not give them, and tell me they could not hope to win success un- 
less they had that thing, and then when failure came they would 
lay the blame on that, and say " I told you so," and it was most 
generally cavalry' Here Mr. Lincoln paused for one of his long, 
quiet, peculiar laughs, and went on with — 

" ' Now, when Grant took hold I was waiting to see what his 
pet impossibility would be ; and I reckoned it would be cavalry, 
as a matter of course, for we hadn't horses enough to mount even 
the men we had. There were fifteen thousand or thereabout 
near Harper's Ferry and no horses to put them on. Well, the 
other day Grant sent to me about those very men, just as I ex- 
pected ; but what he wanted to know was whether he should 
make infantry of them or disband them. He did not ask me 
for what he knew I could not do. He does not ask imiiossibili- 
ties of me, and he is the first general that I have had that did 
not.' In our further conversation, I should add, the President 
did full justice to General Grant's predecessors, for whom, as all 
men know, he had the high regard and respect which were their 
due, but dwelt with a very manifest feeling of relief upon the fact 
that, for the first time since the outbreak of the war, he found the 
load of military responsiMlity taken from his shoulders." 



HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 367 

tected as it was by our splendid fortifications and 
defended by our army of veterans, could not be 
taken. Yet Grant turned his face to our capital, 
and never turned it away until we had surrendered. 
Now, I have carefully searched the military records 
of both ancient and modern history, and have never 
found Grant's superior as a general. I doubt if his 
superior can be found in all history.' " 

Grant's motto, like that of the hero of Waterloo, 
w-as duty. Nowhere in their writings does the word 
glory occur. " I will perform my duty to the best 
of my ability," is the almost identical statement 
made by the two great soldiers before the final suc- 
cesses achieved by them which were to crown them 
with everlasting renown. Unlike the great French 
captain, who was eternally talking and writing of 
la gloire, Wellington and Grant thought only of 
duty, which Gladstone defines as the power that 
rises with us in the morning, and goes to rest with 
us at night. It is co-extensive with the action of 
our intelligence. It is the shadow which cleaves 
to us, go where we will, and which only leaves us 
when we leave the light of life. 

In the course of our narrative Grant has been 
compared to Washington and Wellington as a mili- 
tary commander. In his love of country, support of 
its laws, above all corrupt or interested views, with 
duty as the pole star by which he always steered 
his course, Grant more closely resembles the " Iron 
Duke " in personal and professional character than 
any other illustrious soldier. As Washington and 
Wellington won new laurels — the civic crown — 
after their sw^ords were forever sheathed, by their 



368 GENERAL GRANT. 

firmness, justice, and good judgment, may we not 
believe that history will hereafter record that Gen- 
eral Grant achieved almost the same degree of 
glory as a statesman which he had previously won 
as a soldier — a soldier " Second to none," the motto 
of the famous cavalry regiment known as the Scotch 
Grays, in which several officers of Grant's name 
have won renown. 

The same persistency displayed by the boy in 
riding the mule, and in loading, unaided, the wagon 
with logs for the construction of the Brown County 
Jail, were displayed at Fort Donelson, at Vicksburg, 
at Chattanooga, and during his last campaign 
against Lee's army, and at the Confederate capital. 
On the evening of that awful battle of the Wilder- 
ness, when the legions of the Union army had 
fought all day, rather by faith than sight, in the 
wild woods and tangled brush, an officer suggested 
to Grant that the army should fall back, as it had 
done under former leaders, and reorganize. " No, 
sir," replied the dauntless and intrepid soldier, " we 
have done very w^ell; at half -past four in the morn- 
ing zi'e more forward." It is believed that he was 
equally persistent as the President of the United 
States in his successful efforts to restore peace and 
prosperity to our long-sufifering land, in re-estab- 
lishing our free institutions on the impregnable 
foundations of liberty and justice, and in making 
one common country, in reality as in a name, United 
States of America. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS. 

Nature endowed General Grant with what 
Guizot calls the genius of common sense. Perhaps 
his most prominent traits were his persistence of 
purpose and action, his magnanimity and kindness 
of heart. As an American commander he has no 
equal. His sledge-hammer blows were given with 
all his strength, and he was always a fighter. He 
had the gravity of all great fighters. He was like 
the famous dog of which Dr. " Rab " Brown tells 
us: A Highland gamekeeper named Grant, when 
asked why a certain terrier of singular pluck was so 
much graver than the other dogs, said, " Oh, sir, 
life's full of sariousness to him — he just never can 
get enough o' fechtin'." Grant's unflinching cour- 
age was sublime, his stout heart never quailed under 
the most alarming conditions. He excelled in 
that coolness of judgment which Napoleon de- 
scribed as " the foremost quality in a general." 
He possessed a constantly increasing comprehen- 
sion of grand strategy and the proper movements 
and care of vast armies extending over a front of 
369 



370 



GENERAL GRANT. 



more than two thousand miles. He constantly 
pressed forward with indomitable will. To quote 
his own words, " I may say that I was a man of but 
one purpose — to put down the rebellion." From 
the time his services as colonel were accepted, soon 
after the conflagration of patriotism began in April, 
1861, he never sought promotion. It was always 
fairly won by faithful service, and came to him un- 
solicited. " It is men," he said, " who wait to be 
selected, and not those who seek, from whom we 
may always expect the most efBcient service." On 
another occasion he remarked: " Perhaps one rea- 
son why I received rapid promotion was that I 
never allowed myself to deviate from the path of 
duty — from doing the work that was assigned to 
me. My sole desire was to end the war and re- 
store the Union. At its close I never aspired to any 
political office." Success in war, at least, is the 
test that can not be denied. Tried by that test, 
Grant is entitled to enduring renown. He suc- 
ceeded where others failed. At Donelson he 
struck the keynote of victory. He then and 
there demonstrated the philosophy of the war 
in demanding " unconditional surrender." As 
the War Secretary said, these words moved the 
nation as if they had fallen from the Hebrew 
prophets. 

In his Virginia campaign he achieved success 
where his five predecessors met with disastrous fail- 
ure. They had wasted more than two years and 
one hundred and thirty-nine thousand men in futile 
attempts to reach Richmond. Grant captured that 
city and received the surrender of Lee's army in a 



CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS. 



371 



single campaign of eleven months, and with a loss 
of fifteen thousand less than had been wasted in 
unavailing efforts by McClellan, Pope, Burnside, 
Hooker, and Meade.* When his work was com- 
pleted he hastened back to Washington without 
visiting the Confederate capital in order to stop im- 
mediately the enormous war expense, amounting 
to nearly four millions of dollars per day. It is in- 
conceivable that a time will ever come when Grant's 
countrymen will not be profoundly interested in the 
great struggle for the perpetuity of the Union, in 
which he was the chief actor. 

Like the illustrious Sully, who entertained senti- 
ments in many respects far in advance of his age. 
Grant detested war, and looked with contempt at 
political systems which had not yet invented any- 
thing better than gunpowder for the arbitrament 
of international disputes. As Motley remarks of 
Sully: " Instead of war being an occasional method 
of obtaining peace, it pained him to think that peace 
seemed only a process for arriving at war. Surely 
it was no epigram in those days, but the simplest 
statement of commonplace fact, that war was the 
normal condition of Christians. Alas! will it be 
maintained that in the two and a half centuries 
which have elapsed the world has made much 
progress in a higher direction? Is there yet any 





Killed. 


Wounded. 


Captured 
or missing. 


Aggregate. 


* McClellan and others. . 
General Grant 


15.172 
15.139 


74.635 
77.748 


49.944 
31.503 


139.751 
124,390 




Total 


30,311 


152,333 


8 1,447 


264,141 





372 



GENERAL GRANT. 



appeal among the most civilized nations except to 
the logic of the largest battalions and the eloquence 
of the greatest guns? " 

A common error of mankind is to determine a 
man's greatness by his personal aspect. The pres- 
tige of physical excellence must vanish when we 
speak of Grant. He was the last man who would 
have been selected from a group of general ofBcers 
as the greatest commander that the New World 
has produced. He was five feet eight inches in 
height, being taller than Napoleon, Nelson, Well- 
ington, and Farragut. He was slightly round- 
shouldered, and never carried himself erect except 
when on horseback. His walk and appearance were 
unmilitary. He seldom buttoned his military coat, 
and his outward appearance gave an impression of 
carelessness; but it was a false impression, for Grant 
was among the most fastidious of men in the matter 
of cleanliness of person and of his underclothing. 
Any one who was careless in these particulars was 
likely to sufTer in his estimation. His movements 
were usually deliberate, but if the occasion required 
haste and rapidity of movement, they were forth- 
coming. In the early period of the war his weight 
was about one hundred and thirty-five pounds; at 
its close he had gained fifteen pounds. He had a 
well-formed head, wearing a hat of seven and a 
half inches. His brow was high and broad, with a 
firm mouth, indicating an iron will, or, as Mr. Lin- 
coln called it, " bulldog grit." His hair and full 
beard were a chestnut brown or tawny, and, after 
the first year of the war, were almost always kept 
neatly trimmed. On his risfht cheek he had a 



I, 



CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS. 373 

small wart, just above the beard. His complexion 
was florid. 

Grant's expressive eyes were blue. His counte- 
nance was rarely free from a certain anxious and 
careworn expression, but his temperament was nat- 
urally buoyant and cheerful. He enjoyed a hearty 
laugh, and would be so deeply moved with the mirth 
of an amusing anecdote that at times it was a matter 
of great difficulty for him to complete his story. 
He possessed a melodious voice, which he rarely 
raised even in the excitement of battle. He was 
lamentably deficient in a musical ear — in truth, he 
was almost tone deaf, disliking military bands and 
operatic music. Replying on one occasion to the 
question whether he went often to the opera, he 
said, " Never when I can help it." He did, how- 
ever, enjoy in early life his wife's simple songs, and 
during the Western campaigns frequently listened 
with pleasure to the plantation melodies of " Old 
Shady " and other contrabands. His statement that 
he only knew two tunes — " One is ' Hail to the 
Chief,' and the other isn't " — was, of course, a pleas- 
antry, which he probably originated early in the 
war, and carried through his campaigns as well as in 
later life, adapting it to circumstances. Grant pos- 
sessed a good eye and memory for the topographical 
features of a country where he was campaigning. 
Sherman also was remarkable in this respect, which 
served him well in his Southern marches. He was 
a perfect horseman. One of his favorite chargers — 
called Cincinnati — was perhaps the most valuable 
war horse ever used in battle, being a son of Lex- 
ington and a half-brother of Kentucky, possess- 



374 



GENERAL GRANT. 



ing a record for speed almost equal to those cele- 
brated thoroughbreds.* He was extremely fond of 
driving fast trotters, and greatly enjoyed an even- 
ing game of cards, also reading aloud to members 
of his family. 

General Grant was most unwilling to speak 
unkindly of any one, even of those who for years 
pursued him with remorseless hatred. In regard 
to the ceaseless insinuations against his character, 
made by unscrupulous politicians and unsuccessful 
soldiers, or which were uttered over their dinner 
tables or in the streets, he spoke in a similar strain 
to William of Orange, who philosophically observed 
that " mankind were naturally inclined to calumny, 
particularly against those who exercised govern- 
ment over them." An eminent preacher, lately de- 
parted, in allusion to Grant's patience under the dis- 
tressing trials of his closing years, remarked: "To 
dare is great. To bear is greater. Bravery we share 
with the brutes; fortitude with saints." He was 
fond of simple food, beef being almost the only meat 
that he liked, and that must be well cooked. The 
sight of blood in underdone meat would destroy his 
appetite. In at least one instance within the writer's 
knowledge it sent him from the mess table. The 
man who during the war was called a butcher could 
not bear to witness suffering, for at Shiloh the groans 
of the wounded drove him out from his log cabin — 

* His other war steeds were Jack, which he rode in most of 
his battles, Fox, Kangaroo, Egypt, and Jeff Davis. The first 
named was given after the war to the Northwestern Fair, hold in 
Chicago for the benefit of sick and disabled soldiers, and brought 
the sum of one thousand dollars. 



CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS. 



375 



the only shelter obtainable — and seated at the foot 
of a tree he secured a few hours' sleep in a heavy 
rainstorm. " When I was in the army," he said, 
" I had a physique that could stand anything. 
Whether I slept on the ground or in a tent, whether 
I slept one hour or ten in the twenty-four, whether 
I had one meal or three, or none, made no dififer- 
ence. I could lie down and sleep in the rain with- 
out caring." " I shall take no step backward," he 
said in the Wilderness when the Union army was 
dismayed by its heavy losses; and, having given or- 
ders to follow the enemy at daylight, he sought 
needed rest, and slept soundly for several hours. 
The age of chivalry is not gone when a victor could 
accord such terms to the vanquished as Grant freely 
gave to Lee and the remains of his gallant army at 
Appomattox. The student of military history will 
search in vain for anything comparable to it or to 
the delicacy with which the victor treated his beaten 
foes on that occasion. He was painfully modest and 
retiring in his manner, avoiding pomp and display, 
loving justice, eminently truthful, and never inten- 
tionally wronging any man. 

Grant was single-minded as well as single- 
hearted, and possessed that rarest of intellectual 
gifts — an honest mind, which accepted without hesi- 
tation or personal treason the conclusions of its own 
judgment. He was not a scholar, but was familiar 
with good literature and with military history. His 
hero among ancient captains was Hannibal; among 
modern commanders, Cromwell. Concerning the 
latter, his friend Milton wrote a few lines, some of 
which appear peculiarly applicable to the subject of 
25 



376 GENERAL GRANT. 

this biography. " Wherefore," says the great poet, 
" you speak contemptibly of his great parts, I know 
not, but I suspect you are not free from the error 
common to studious and speculative men. Because 
Oliver was an ungraceful orator, and never said 
either in public or private anything memorable, you 
will have it that he was of mean capacity. Sure, this 
is unjust. Many men have been ignorant of letters, 
without wit, without eloquence, who yet had the 
wisdom to devise and the courage to perform that 
which they lacked the language to explain. Such 
men, often, in troubled times, have worked out the 
deliverance of nations and their own greatness, not 
by logic, but by wariness in success, by calmness 
in danger, by firm and stubborn resolution in all 
adversity. The hearts of men are their books, events 
are their tutors, great actions are their eloquence, 
and such an one, in my judgment, with his late high- 
ness. His own deeds shall avouch him for a great 
statesman, a great soldier, a true lover of his coun- 
try, a merciful and generous conqueror." 

Grant's writing, like his character, was the em- 
bodiment of directness. He sometimes lacked a 
word in conversation, but never when with pen in 
hand. Many of his most important dispatches were 
written hastily without premeditation, and sent off 
without the change of a single word. Such was the 
case with his terms granted to Lee, with his "uncon- 
ditional surrender " letter to Buckner, and his cele- 
brated dispatch, " I propose to fight it out on this 
line if it takes all summer." These two last were 
simply notes of information that he had certain im- 
portant business in hand to which he designed giv- 



CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS. 



377 



ing his whole attention. Equally memorable are 
the words which followed in his acceptance, in 1868, 
of the Republican nomination for the presidency, 
" Let us have peace." On his deathbed, when no 
longer able to speak. Grant wrote: " I feel that we 
are on the eve of a new era, when there is to be 
great harmony between the Federals and Confed- 
erates. I can not stay to be a living witness to the 
correctness of this prophecy, but I feel it within 
me that it is to be so. The universally kind feeling 
expressed for me at a time when it was supposed 
that each day would prove my last, seems to me to 
be the beginning of the answer, ' Let us have 
peace.' " The magnificent tomb in the nation's me- 
tropolis, to which the hero's remains were removed 
a few days before the seventy-fifth anniversary of 
his birth, bears on its granite front the appropriate 
legend, " Let us have peace." 

Grant's temper was not perhaps so strong as 
Washington's, but, like him, he kept it well in 
hand. He never spoke impulsively, and seldom, if 
ever, was heard to utter a harsh word against any 
one. He w'as a good, if not a brilliant conversation- 
alist. Some of his rifle-shot utterances are historic, 
and will not soon be forgotten. During the siege 
of Vicksburg a planter's wife appeared on her porch 
and tauntingly inquired of Grant when he expected 
to capture Vicksburg. " I can not tell the exact 
day," he replied, " but I shall stay until I do if it 
takes thirty years." The surrender followed in pre- 
cisely thirty days. This is quite as good as Marshal 
McMahon's famous saying at the siege of Sebasto- 
pol, " /'y suis et fy reste." In June, 1862, Grant 



378 GENERAL GRANT. 

said: "It is the business of a soldier to beat the 
enemy wherever and whenever he meets him. ' If 
he can,' should only be thought of after an unavoid- 
able defeat." To Burnside, besieged in Knoxville 
by Longstreet in the autumn of 1863, Grant sent a 
communication, saying: " I can hardly conceive the 
necessity for retreating. If I did so at all, it would 
be after losing most of the army." When an officer 
rode up in haste and in the greatest excitement ex- 
claimed, " General Grant, Lee is turning our right," 
with voice and manner calm as a summer morn, the 
dauntless soldier replied, " Very well, then I shall 
turn Lee's left." If Grant was ever justly an- 
gered, he was careful not to show it, and few dis- 
covered the fact. In thought, word, and deed he 
was perhaps the purest of our great men of this or 
any previous age. Never in the whole course of his 
life was he known to utter an unclean word, to relate 
an objectionable story or to listen to one, nor to 
use an oath or even a mild expletive. On the oc- 
casion of a large dinner party a person of distinc- 
tion prefaced a story that he was about to relate 
by remarking, " I believe there are no ladies pres- 
ent." " No," calmly responded the general, " but 
there are gentlemen." The story remained untold. 
In all his domestic relations Grant was as near per- 
fection as could be desired. 

A great historian of our day tells us that when 
the hero of the battle of the Boyne died at Kens- 
ington Palace, at about eight in the morning, nearly 
two centuries ago, and his remains were laid out, 
it was found that he wore next his skin a small piece 
of black ribbon. The lords in waiting ordered it 



CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS. 



379 



to be taken off. It contained a plain gold wedding 
ring and a lock of the hair of his deceased wife, 
Queen Mary. After Grant's spirit took its flight at 
almost the same hour as the heroic English king's, 
there was found suspended around his neck a long 
braid of a woman's and child's hair intertwined. It 
was sent across a continent to the army captain by 
his young wife when he was serving on the far- 
distant Pacific coast. The affectionate husband and 
father had worn it for thirty-two years. 



INDEX 



Alabama claims, 300. 
Alexander, Colonel, 88. 
Alleghany Mountains, 20. 
Allen, Colonel Robert, 149. 
Amelia Courthouse, Va., 274. 

276. 
American commanders, 45, 72. 
Ammen, Admiral, 9, 16, 271. 
Ampudio, General Pedro de, 52, 

56. 
Anderson, General Robert H., 

226, 233, 236, 255. 
Andrews, Governor, 81. 
Antietam, 139. 
Appomattox River, 273, 274, 

278. 
Appomattox Station, 27S, 284. 
Army of the James, 221, 223, 

270. 
Army of the Mississippi, 145, 

146. 
Army of Northern Virginia, 218, 

261, 278. 
Army of the Ohio, 124-145. 
Army of the Potomac, 215, 217, 

222, 261, 263, 270. 
Army of the Tennessee, 145, 149. 
Arnold, Benedict, 25. 



Arthur, ex-President, 363. 
Averill, General, 261. 

Bailey, George Bartlett, 17. 
Baird, General A., 202. 
Banks, General, 158, 172, 183, 

184, 202, 220, 221, 246. 
Barlow, General Francis, 240, 

243- 
Beauregard, General, 59, 125, 

133, 145. 146, 242. 
Bedouin sheik, 71. 
Belmont, battle of, 5, 93. 
Bethesda Church, Va., 256. 
Bevie the bugler, 39. 
Big Black River, 174. 
Bimey's division, 233, 240. 
Blair, Montgomery, 89. 
Blair, General, 86. 
Bliss, Colonel, 86. 
Bliicher, Field-Marshal, I2g. 
Blue and Gray, 140. 
Bonneville, Colonel, 75. 
Bovey, French artist, 292. 
Bowling Green, Ky., 117. 
Bragg, General, 124, 185, 186, 

192, 194-200, 202, 203 
Breckinridge, General, 125. 

381 



382 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Brooks, Horace, 66. 
Brown, B. Gratz, 302. 
Brown County Jail, 8. 
Brown County, Ohio, 291. 
Brown, Dr. John, 369. 
Brown, Major Jacob, 47. 
Buchanan, James, 79. 
Buckner, General, 81, 105, 112, 

113, 116, 194, 362, 363. 
Buell, General, 121, 124, 126, 

130, 131. 138, 142, 151. 
Buena Vista, battle of, 59. 
Burnside, General, 190, 192,193, 

200, 203, 224, 232, 237, 241, 

243, 244, 251, 255, 257. 
Butler, General B. F., 22, 44, 

52, 234, 25S. 
Burns of Gettysburg, 134. 
Byron, Lord, 80. 

Cameron, Simon, 85. 

Campbell, Colonel John, 23. 

Camp Salubrity, La., 72. 

Canby, General, 285. 

Candless, Colonel, 245. 

Carlyle, Thomas, 2. 

Carroll's brigade, 233, 245. 

Casey, Silas, 65. 

Cerro Gordo, battle of, 59. 

Chagres River, 75. 

Chambersburg bui-ned, 265. 

Champion Hill, 173, 174. 

Chapultepec, capture of, 63, 64. 

Charlie, horse that threw Grant, 
184. 

Chase, Chief-Justice, 305. 

Chattanooga, 194, 199, 204. 

Chicago Republican Conven- 
tion, 296. 

Cliickahominy River, 258, 260. 



Chickamauga, 139 ; battle of, S3, 

185. 
Chickamauga Station, 201. 
Chickasaw Bayou, 161. 
Childs, George W., 43. 
Chittenden, Henry T., 7. 
Church, Prof., 36. 
Churubusco, capture of, 61. 
Cincinnati, Grant's horse, 275. 
City Point, Va., 259, 262, 263. 
Civil service reform, 301. 
Clyde, Field-Marshal, 22. 
CcEur-de-Lion, 102. 
Cold Harbor, 263 ; battle of, 257. 
Colfax, Schuyler, 299. 
Columbus Fair Grounds, 7. 
Combermore, Marshal, 292. 
Connecticut Indians, 5. 
Coppee, Dr. Henry, 26, 95. 
Corinth, battle of, 155 ; cap- 

tured, 146. 
Corpus Christi, Texas, 70, 72. 
Corse, General, 201. 
Corwin, Thomas, 69. 
Cosby, Major, 113. 
Council of war, II2, 
Court of inquiry, 273. 
Couts, Cave J., 33 
Crittenden, General, 132. 
Cromwell, Oliver, 2. 
Crook, General, 222, 261, 264, 

276, 
Cruft's brigade, 198, 199 
Crump's Landing, 124, 126, 127. 
Culpeper Courthouse, 229. 
Curtin, Governor, 82. 
Custer, General, 270, 301. 

Davis, Jefferson, 6. 
Decisive battles, 43. 



I 



INDEX. 



383 



Declaration against purchasing, 

41,42. 
Delafield, Richard, 21-27. 
Delbit, John, 42. 
Dent, Miss Julia, 74. 
Department of the Cumberland, 

185. 
Department of Tennessee, 157. 
Department of the Gulf, 183. 
Deshon, Dr. George, 30. 39-41. 
Devonshire, England, 3. 
Disciplinarian, 87. 
Dodge, General G. M., 191. 
Dorchester, England, 3. 
Dorchester, Mass., 3, 4. 
Douglas, Stephen A., 290. 
Draft in the North, 268. 
Dreer, Ferdinand J., 113. 
Drary's Bluff, 246. 

Early, General Jubal A., 225, 
238, 263. 264, 267, 268, 270. 

East Tennessee, 273. 

East Windsor Theological In- 
stitute, 5. 

Eighth Iowa eagle, 157. 

Eighteenth Corps, 260, 262. 

Ely's Ford, Va., 228. 

Emancipation proclamation, 

113- 
Emperor of Germany, 301. 
Ernst, Colonel Oswald H., 38. 
Everett, Edward, 3. 

Fabian policy, 145. 
Farmville, Va., 277. 
Farragut, Admiral, 221. 
Fifteenth Army Corps, 167. 
Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry, 150. 
Fish, Hamilton, 299, 300. 



Flag of truce, 257. 
Floyd, General, 105, 112. 
Foote, Commodore, 104, 107, 

108, 118. 
Fort Donaldson, 105, 164. 
Fort Henr}' captured, 104. 
Forts Henry and Donaldson, go, 

95. lOI. 
Fort Sumter falls, 81. 
Fort Vancouver, 85. 
Fort William Henry, 5. 
Foster, General, 59. 
Forrest, Samuel G., 31. 
Forrest's cavalry, 108. 
Forrest, General, 218. 
Fourth U. S. Infantry, 44, 46, 

55. S(>< t)8, 72, 74, 76. 
Franklin, Governor William, 5. 
Franklin, General William B., 

25. 362. 
Frederick the Great, 292. 
Fremont, General, 79, 90, 92. 
French, General Samuel G., 31, 

362. 
Fry, General James B;% 27. 

Gardner, Frank, 33. 

Garland, General, 54, 55, 61, 62, 

67, 72. 
Geneva award, 300. 
Georgetown, Ohio, 14. 
Germania Ford, Va., 228. 
Gerry, General, 198. 
Getty, General, 231, 270. 
Gettysburg battlefield, 43. 
Gettysburg and Vicksburg, 182. 
Gibbon's division, 233, 240. 
Gibraltar of America, loi. 
Gilmore, General Q. A., 221. 
Governor's Island, N. Y., 75. 



384 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Graham, Lieutenant, 73. 

Grand Gulf, Miss., 168, 172. 

Granger, General Gordon, 194. 

Grant, Captain Noah, i, 5. 

Grant, Field-Marshal, 2. 

Grant, Frederick D., 13. 

Grant, Grace Miner, 2. 

Grant Hall, West Point, 42. 

Grant, Hannah Simpson, 2, 13. 

Grant homestead. Conn., 5. 

Grant, Jesse R., 26, 78. 

Grant, Julia Dent, 286. 

Grant, Martha Huntington, 2. 

Grant, Mary Francis, 12. 

Grant, Mary Porter, 2, 5. 

Grant, Matthew, i, 2, 3. 

Grant, Orvil Lynch, 12. 

Grant, Peter, 6. 

Grant, Priscilla, 2. 

Grant, Rachel Kelly, 2. 

Grant, Samuel, 2, 5. 

Grant, Samuel Simpson, 12. 

Grant, Ulysses Simpson, ances- 
tors, I ; birth, 6 ; name, 7 ; 
birthplace removed, 7 ; cart- 
ing logs, 8 ; at the circus, 8 ; 
horse-trade, 11 ; at school, 14 ; 
goes to Military Academy, 
20 ; changes name, 26 ; Grant 
and Lincoln, 29 ; called " Un. 
cle Sam," 31 ; no ear for mu- 
sic, '31 ; a famous leap, 33 ; 
as an artist, 34 ; class recita- 
tion, 34 ; no taste for military 
life, 36 ; expected to leave 
army, 37 ; portrait of Grant, 
43 ; Grant at West Point, 44 ; 
Grant's first battle, 49 ; 
Grant's ride at Monterey, 56 ; 
doing his duty, 69 ; quarter- 



master and commissary, 75 ; 
arrives in San Francisco, 76 ; 
at Chapulepec, 64 ; gallant 
achievement, 65 ; receives 
thanks, 67 ; as a rider, 71 ; 
daring act, 72 ; Grant as Des- 
demona, 72 ; Grant's sto- 
ries, 73 ; marriage, 74 ; Be- 
nicia Barracks, 76 ; Humboldt 
Bay, 77 ; at Fort Vancouver, 
77 ; resigns from army, 77 ; 
reaches St. Louis, 78 ; be- 
comes a farmer, 78 ; goes to 
Galena, 78 ; votes for Bu- 
chanan, 79 : views of the 
war, 81 ; goes to Springfield, 
83 ; commissioned colonel, 
86 ; marches to Quincy, 86 ; 
ordered to Missouri, 86 ; as- 
signed to Cairo, 89 ; plan of 
campaign, 89 ; captures Pa- 
ducah, 91 ; battle of Bel- 
mont, 94, 95 ; narrow escape, 
98 ; fearless in battle, 99 ; 
promoted, 100 ; Fort Henry 
captured, 106 ; at Fort Don- 
elson, 108 ; returns from flag- 
ship, 109 ; captures Fort Don- 
elson, 113 ; correspondence, 
114 ; issues order, 115 ; pro- 
moted, 116 ; as a smoker, 118 ; 
in disgrace, 121 ; charges 
against, 121 ; jealousy of 
Grant, 122 ; restored, 122 ; 
asked to be relieved, 123 ; at 
Savannah, 126 ; reaches Pitts- 
burg, 127 ; orders Nelson 
and Wallace to advance, 
127 ; restores confidence, 128 ; 
sleeps in rain, 132 ; surprised, 



INDEX. 



385 



136 ; anecdote, 137 ; Shiloh 
dispatch, 137 ; assailed, 138 ; 
defended, 139 ; concerning 
Shiloh, 142 ; under a cloud, 
144 ; goes to Memphis, 146 ; 
intolerable position, 147 ; re- 
instatement, 143 ; his anxiety, 
152 ; new command, 157 ; 
slanderers, 158 ; movement 
against Vicksburg, 160 ; at 
Young's Point, 162 ; siege of 
Vicksburg, 162 ; his birthday, 
1 68 ; wins battles, 174 ; heavy 
captures, 174 ; orders assault, 
175 ; receives surrender, 177 ; 
Lincoln's letter, 178 ; his re- 
port, 179 ; returns Sherman's 
protest, 180 ; his masterpiece, 
182 ; at New Orleans, 183 ; 
attends review, 183 ; thrown 
from his horse, 1S4 ; ordered 
to Louisville, 184 ; meets 
Secretary of War, 184 ; larger 
command, 185 ; proceeds to 
Chattanooga, 185 ; his fore- 
thought, 191 ; congratulated, 
2CO ; telegraphs Burnside, 

203 ; his great victory, 203 ; 
sends dispatch to Halleck, 

204 ; issues congratulatory 
order, 206 ; thanked by Con- 
gress, 207 ; voted a gold 
medal, 207 ; called to Wash- 
ton, 209 ; writes to Sherman, 
2og ; arrives in Washington, 

212 ; received by President, 

213 ; promoted, 213 ; com- 
mands all the armies, 214 ; 
goes West, 214 ; returns to 
the East, 215 ; establishes 



headquarters, 215 ; chooses 
subordinates, 218 ; Grant and 
Lee compared, 219 ; advances 
into Virginia, 223 ; bad luck, 
236 ; makes promotions, 245 ; 
receives ill news, 246 ; flank 
movement, 246 ; famous say- 
ings, 247 ; calmness, 248 ; his 
advance, 248 ; visits com- 
manders, 257 ; writes to Lee, 
258 ; goes to Mar}'land, 265 ; 
returns to City Point, 267 ; 
in the valley, 268 ; at the 
front, 269 ; writes to Ammen, 
271 ; letter to Sherman, 276 ; 
writes to Lee, 278 ; hears 
from Lee, 278 ; with Meade, 
278 ; his staff, 279 ; receives 
Lee's surrender, 279 ; his ap- 
pearance, 280 ; his generos- 
ity, 280 ; correspondence with 
Lee, 280-285 ; goes to Wash- 
ington, 286 ; proceeds to New 
Jersey, 286 ; returns to Wash- 
ington, 286 ; reviews the two 
armies, 287 ; address to ar- 
mies, 288 ; makes tours, 290 ; 
visits Chicago, 290 ; goes to 
Galena, 291 ; visits West 
Point, 292 ; receives degrees, 
293 ; promoted, 293 ; as field 
marshal, 293 ; relics in Wash- 
ington, 293 ; as Secretary of 
War, 294, 295 ; dispute with 
President, 295 ; nominated 
for President, 296 ; letter of 
acceptance, 296 ; elected 
President, 297 ; inaugurated, 
298 ; appoints Cabinet, 299 ; 
his administration, 302 ; re- 



\S6 



GENERAL GRANT, 



nominated, 303 ; accepts nom- 
ination, 303 : re-elected, 304 ; 
second inauguration, 304 ; sec- 
ond administration, 306 ; on 
a third term, 309 ; tour around 
the world, 310-329 ; letters to 
Washburne, 330-349 ; selects 
a home, 350 ; writes Memoirs, 
352 ; sickness, 352 ; leaves 
the city, 356 ; death at Mount 
McGregor, 358 ; public fu- 
neral, 359 ; Riverside Park 
tomb, 359 ; burial there, 363 ; 
grand tomb, 363 ; public ded- 
ication, 363 ; tributes to his 
memory, 364 ; Lincoln's opin- 
ion, 365 ; Sherman's opinion, 
365 ; Sheridan's opinion, 365 ; 
Lee's opinion, 366 ; his motto 
Duty, 367 ; compared to Wel- 
lington, 367 ; winning the 
civic crown, 367 ; character 
and personal traits, 369-379 ; 
his war horses, 375. 

Greeley, Horace, 302. 

Grier, General William N., 40. 

Hackleman, General, 156. 
Haines's Bhiff, 162. 
Halleck, Fitz Greene, 356. 
Halleck, General. 44, 100, 103, 

121, 122, 144, 145, 147, 148, 

204, 211. 
Hamer, Thomas L., 17, 22, 

50. 
Hamilton, Alexander. 21, 158. 
Hampton, General Wade, 226. 
Hancock, General W. S., 223, 

225, 230, 232, 234, 235, 238, 

239, 242-244, 250, 263, 273. 



Hardie, James A., 39, 125. 
Hard Times Landing, 168. 
Harney, General William S., 60. 
Harper's Ferry, Va., 266. 267. 
Haslett, Lieutenant, 72. 
Hatchie, the battle of, 156. 
Havens, Benny, 40. 
Hayes, Ex-President, 293, 363. 
Heiman, Fort, 105. 
Herron, General, 183. 
Hershberger, H. R., 28. 
Hill, General A. P., 225, 231. 
Hillyer, General, 147. 
Hooker, General, 43, 158, 200, 

2go. 
Hoskins, Adjutant, 73. 
Humphreys, General, 244, 245. 
Hunt, General Henry L, 223. 
Hunter, General David, 246, 

259, 261, 263-266. 
Hurlburt, General, 124, 126, 

132, 146. 

Island No. 10, 117, 124. 
luka, battle of, 153. 

Jack, Grant's war horse, 97. 
Jackson captured, 173. 
Jackson, "Stonewall," 43. 
Jefferson Barracks, 74. 
Jenkins, General, 233. 
Jericho Ford, Va., 251. 
Jetersville, Va., 277. 
Jo Daviess County, 293. 
Jo Daviess Guards, 81. 
Johnson, Andrew, 287, 295. 
Johnston, Albert Sidney, 50, 

117, 125, 133, 138. 
Johnston, General J. E., 44, 

173, 218, 267. 



INDEX. 



387 



Kautz, General, 242. 
Kelley, General, 265. 
Kelly's Ferry, 190. 
Kendrick, Henry L., 39. 
King Charles II, 3. 

Lagow, Colonel, 147. 

Lake Providence, 16S. 

I^anman's brigade, III. 

Lawlor's brigade, 174. 

Ledlie's division, 270. 

Lee, General Robert E., 9, 44, 

50, 113, 151, 218, 234, 243, 

244, 246, 251, 257, 258, 259, 

268, 278. 
Lee, Major Francis, 67. 
Lee surrenders, 279. 
Lee's last order, 285. 
Leutze, artist, 207. 
Lexington, gunboat, 130. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 9, 79, Si, 8g, 

•156, 159, 200, 205, 274, 275, 

362. 
Lincoln, Mrs. A., 286. 
Lincoln's assassination, 286 ; 

Godspeed letter, 226. 
Logan, John A., 296. 
Longstreet, General James, 29, 

30, 44, 69, 192-194, 200, 225, 

226, 229, 231, 233, 296, 362. 
Lookout Mountain, 185, 186, 

190, 199. 
Loomis, John M., 201. 
Losses in battle, 261. 
Loveli, General, 154. 
Lyon, General Nathaniel, 40, 

86. 

Mahan, Dennis, 36. 
-Mansfield, General Tared, 50. 



Marshall, Colonel Charles, 279, 
285. 

Mary and John, 2. 

Matamoras, Mexico, 47, 48, 50. 

Maverick and Warham, 2. 

McArthur's brigade, 109. 

McClellan, General G. B., 44, 

59. 85, 86. 
McClernand, General, 91, 93, 
105. 106, 108, III, 124, 132, 
144, 166. 
McLean, Wilmer, 279, 284. 
McMahon, Marshal, 277. 
McPherson, General, 80, 127. 
McKinley, President, 297. 
McKinstry, Colonel, 203. 
McKenzie, Samuel, 65. 
Meade, General George G., 43, 
53, 214, 222, 231, 236, 257, 
262, 288. 
Memphis smugglers, 150. 
Memphis incident, 159. 
Merritt, General, 236. 
Memorial Day, 1896, 140. 
Mexican vaquero, 71. 
Mexico, city of, captured, 67. 
Military Division, Mississippi, 

214. 
Military necessity, 151, 
Milliken's Bend, 161, 166. 
Mill Springs, battle of, 103. 
Milton, John, 19. 
Minot House, Dorchester, 4. 
Missionary Ridge, 185, 186, 190, 

200, 204. 
Mississippi River, 160. 
Mobile, attack on, 267. 
Molino del Rey, 60, 64. 
Moltke, Field- Marshal, 80. 364. 
Monocacy, battle of, 264. 



388 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Monterey, battle of, 51, 56. 
Montezumas, Halls of, 68. 
Montgomery County, Pa., 6. 
Moore, Colonel, 128. 
Morales, General, 57. 
Morgan, Governor E. D., 83. 
Morton, Governor, 83. 
Mott's division, 239, 240, 243. 
Murphy, Colonel R. C, 152, 161. 

Napoleon, 80. 
Napoleon and Nelson, 362. 
Napoleon's first campaign, 182. 
National Museum, Washington, 

293- 
Nelson, Admiral, 8, 126, 132, 

142. 
New Carthage, 166. 
Newr Orleans, 267. 
New York parades, 359. 
Nineteenth Army Corps, 183. 

"Old Brains," 144. 
Old Cold Harbor, 256. 
Oglesby, Richard, 92-94. 
Opequan Creek, battle of, 267. 
Orange Courthouse, 228. 
Orchard Knob, 199, 200, 202. 
Ord, General, 152, 154, 277, 279. 
Osterhaus, General, 19S, 199. 

Palo Alto, battle of, 48. 
Parker, Colonel Ely S., 285. 
Patterson, Robert, 57. 
Pemberton, General, 67, 173, 

174. 
Pennsylvania Avenue, 287. 
Petersburg, siege, 263, 273. 
Petersburg, explosion, 272. 
Pickett's division, 44, 250. 



Pillow, General, 60, 65, 105, 

109, 115. 
Piney Branch Church, 236. 
Pittsburg Landing, 124, 135. 
Pleasanton, General Alfred, 31, 
Plymouth, England, 2, 3. 
Poinsett, Joel R., 20. 
Point Isabel, Texas, 47, 48. 
Point Pleasant, Ohio, 6. 
Polk, General, 90, 97, 117, 124. 
Pope, General, 88, 144, 151. 

Quitman, General, 54, 67. 

Rawlins, General John A., 81, 

113, 147, 299. 
Read, Colonel, 277. 
Rebellion ended, 284. 
Red River campaign, 220. 
Resaca de la Palma, 48, 49. 
Resumption Act, 1878, 308. 
Reynolds, General Joseph J., 

28, 362. 
Richmond, siege of, 263, 275. 
Riflemen of Shiloh, 134. 
Rockwell, Susannah, 4. 
Rockwell, William, 4. 
Rosecrans, General, 152, 154, 

1S5. 
Rowley, Colonel, 142. 

Sackett's Harbor, 75. 
San Cosmo Gate, 65. 
San Domingo, 302, 304. 
Santa Anna, General, 58. 
Santo Domingo treaty, 300. 
Savannah, Tenn., 123, 126, 130. 
Schurz, General Carl, 302. 
Scofield, General, 299. 
Scott, General Winfield, 33, 37, 



INDEX. 



389 



56, 57. 59. 62, 68, 208, 279, 

2g2. 
Scott, Sir Walter, 363. 
Second Iowa Infantry, ill. 
Second U. S. Dragoons, 47. 
Second U. S. Infantry, 47. 
Sedgwick, General John, 43, 

223, 226, 236, 237. 
Seventeenth Army Corps, 167. 
Seward, Secretary, 286. 
Shady Grove Church, 230. 
Shenandoah Valley, 266. 
Sheridan, General, 43, 45, 202, 

203, 223, 236, 242, 253, 254, 

261, 265, 266, 269, 276. 
Sheridan's cavalry, 253-259. 
Sherman, General W. T., 30, 43, 

45, 99, 120, 124, 125, 128, 132, 

139, 147, 159, 172, 190, 199, 

203, 210, 214, 220, 245, 268, 

273, 287, 288, 293. 
Shewers, Susan, i. 
Shiloh battlefield, 125. 
Shiloh Battlefield Association, 

140. 
Shiloh, battle of, 128, 133, 142. 
Shiloh cemetery, 139. 
Shiloh Church, 125. 
Shields, James, 62. 
Sigel, General, 222, 246. 
Simpson, Hannah, 6. 
Simpson, John, 6. 
Simpson, William, 6. 
Sixth Corps, 264. 
Smith, General Charles F., 59, 

93, 103, 105, 106, 108, 109, 

121, 123, 124. 
Smith, General Kirby, 285. 
Smith, Morgan L., 20I. 
Smith, Sidney, 68. 



Smith, General W. F., 254, 255, 

257, 260, 263. 
Spottsylvania, battle of, 243, 

244. 
Spottsylvania Courthouse, 235. 
Southern Confederacy, 182. 
Stanton, Edwin M., 85, 116, 

184, 295, 296. 
Stanton, victory at, 259, 
Steele, General, 220, 267. 
Stewart, Alexander T., 299. 
Stiles, Dr. Henry R., 5. 
Stokes, James H., 27. 
Stone, General C. P., 183. 
Stuart, General David, 125. 
Stuart, General J. E. B., 225. 
Subscription schools, 12. 

Taylor, General Richard, 284. 
Taylor, General Zachary, 17, 

47. 48, 50, 51. 53. 56, 59. 72, 

76. 
Territt, Lieutenant, 56. 
Texas comrades, 140. 
Texas, surrender of, 63. 
Thayer's brigade, 108. 
Third United States Infantry, 

55- 
Thirteenth Army Corps, 167, 

183. 
Thomas, General George H., 

43, 102, 144, 185, 200. 
Thompson, General Jeff., 89. 
Tilghman, General, 91. 
Tod, Governor David, 6. 
Tod, Judge George, 6. 
Todd's Tavern, 230, 235, 237- 

239- 
Tomb of Grant, 363. 
Tomb of Napoleon, 363. 



Hi 



390 



GENERAL GRANT. 



Tomb of Scott, 363. 

Tower, General Zealous B., 34, 

35- 
Townsend, Colonel E. D., 84. 
Trevilian Station, Va., 263. 
Trist, Nicholas B., 62, 63. 
Turchin, General John B., 203. 
Twenty-first Illinois Infantry, 

85, 88. 
Twiggs, General, 55, 57, 60. 
Tyler, gunboat, 130. 
Tyler, John, 46. 

United States Military Acad- 
emy, 21, 43, 44, 47. 84, 115. 
120. 

Upton, Colonel Emory, 240, 241. 

Vancouver Island, 301. 
Vandalia, U. S. steamer, 10. 
Van Dorn, General, 125, 151, 

153, T6r. 
Vera Cruz captured, 57. 
Vicksburg campaign, 160, 161. 
Vicksburg, Miss., 157. 
Vose, Colonel Joseph H., 46. 

Wadsworth, General, 231, 232. 
Waite, Chief-Justice, 305. 
Wallace, General Lewis, 93, 

105, 108, III, 124, 127, 132, 

140, 264. 
Wallace, (ieneral W. H. L., 

125, 128, 133. 
Warren, General G. K., 223, 

230, 232, 236, 237, 241, 244, 

251, 252, 255, 257. 



Washburn, General C. C, 160, 

183. 
Washburne, Elihu B., 82, 139. 

299. 
Washington, George, 21, 208. 
Washington, Mary, 13. 
Washington reviews, 287, 288. 
Waterloo, battle of, 129, 139. 
Weitzel, General Godfrey, 275. 
Weldon Railroad captured, 268. 
Wellington, Duke of, 129, 139. 
Western Gibraltar, 102, 157. 
Westmoreland County, Pa., 6. 
Whisky Ring, 308. 
White House, Va., 252, 254, 

257- 
White, John D., 16. 
White, Rev. John, 3. 
Wilcox, General, 200. 
Wilderness, battle of, 229. 
Williams, William S., 56. 
Wilson, General, 236. 
Wilson, Henry, 22, 304. 
Wilson's cavalry, 229, 230. 
Winchester, Va., 264, 270. 
Windsor, Conn., 4. 
Winthrop, Governor John, 3. 
Wolfe, General James, 80. 
Wood, General, 202, 203. 
Worth, General, 52, 57, 59, 60, 

67. 
Wright, General H. G, 226, 

240, 244, 251, 252, 254, 269. 

Yates, Richard, 81, 82, 86, 290. 
Yazoo River, 162. 
York, Duke of, 23. 



THE END. 



